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"...when I returned to the practice of relinquishing thoughts after my attention wandered, I felt a tiny wave of pleasure. Gradually these redemptive surges increased, growing closer to that condition Eastern philoshophers have called 'nonreferential joy' or 'self-existent delight.' It became increasingly evident that this simple restorative attention develops with practice, growing stronger with repetition.
"...when we practice such awareness..., we store something away for times when our thoughts and feelings wander. This centered exercise, which aligns body and mind with the restorative silence from which they come, makes that silence more accessible, more available when we fall from its grace. But these recognitions were not always pleasurable. My day of practice brought unexpected difficulties as well as illumination..."

Michael Murphy
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