What do pumpkins and stones have to do with Right Mindfulness? Bhikkhu Bodhi says the mind without mindfulness is like a pumpkin, while the mindful mind is like a stone.

If you place a pumpkin on the water’s surface, it will bob at the top and float away. But a stone continues its journey deeper, and stays where it was set.

When we lack mindfulness, our thoughts bob along the surface of things. It stays right at the top, unable to access the depths below. When we aren’t mindful, we also get tossed by the tides and currents of our thoughts and emotions and experiences. We don’t chart our own course. We live at the whims of whatever is happening around us.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen a pumpkin in water, but it’s not a sight that conveys thoughtfulness or gravitas, does it?

When we are mindful, we have heft. Like a stone, we hold weight. We may be placed in a river, but we will descend past the surface of things until we finally arrive at the bottom. If you’ve ever gone diving or snorkeling, you know how much beauty and mystery lies underneath what the eye on the shore can see. It makes mindfulness feel worthwhile when we realize we are opening ourselves to the glories residing just underneath.

As we awaken every day to another set of constantly fluctuating circumstances, it’s easy to feel tossed around by the rapids and waves of the unknown. Consider this week how you can be less like a pumpkin and more like a stone.

Where does your heft, your gravitas, come from? How can you connect to that this week?

This post belongs to my series on practicing the Eightfold Path. Read all my posts on Right Mindfulness here.