You can open to Dukkha everywhere you go, every minute of a day. There is no need to make a separation between opening to Dukkha here in the retreat and opening to Dukkha in our normal life. However, you can see Dukkha more easily here than compared to your normal every day, speedy life. So, why is it that you can see it easier here? Because you slow down here. You slow down the environment, it is very pleasant, it is more peaceful and so on. How can you open more to Dukkha in your normal life? Slow it down, arrange it so that it is not so speedy. Some people say, "I can't possibly do that" - I don't believe you. Every one of us has the opportunity to slow down some.
Why do we teach you special mindfulness activities? To help incorporate your practice into your normal life. How many of you are mindful with the doors in your normal life? How many of you are mindful with putting on and off your shoes, turning on your computer, standing up, sitting down? These are all moments in your normal life where you can slow down and it is not going to change your ability to function in the so called speedy world. It will actually make you able to perform better, yet you will be able to slow down. That is interesting to consider, in the speedy world if you slow down, if you are more mindful, you will perform better, more efficiently. Why? Because you are going to make less mistakes. How much time do you waste trying to correct a mistake?
When I learned typing it was with those old typing machines, that cranked and this and that and when we were tested it was for speed. In those days, secretaries were hired for how fast they could type, that was very important. In class we were often tested. You would type from a book for about 3 minutes and when you were finished you would count how may words you had typed. But that is not your speed. You then have to count how many mistakes you made. For every word that was a mistake you had to subtract 5 off your total words. So, if a person typed 170 words and they made 10 mistakes they had to subtract 50, so their final score was 120. Somebody else would type 140 words and only make one mistake, they got a score of 135 which was higher than the person who typed faster but had more mistakes. This is very real. This is something to think about in your life. The less mistakes you make the happier your bosses are going to be, the quicker you are going to get the job done. Even though you might be a little bit slower in doing the work, you will save time by not having to fix mistakes.
So, to be mindful standing up, to be mindful sitting down, to be mindful turning on your computer, to be mindful grabbing the door. These are opportunities in your normal life to slow down, and then you are going to be more aware of Dukkha. You are more aware of Dukkha when it arises in your mind here because everything is quieter. Try to give yourself the ability to be more aware in your normal life, try to change a few things to make more quiet.
Your work place is one part of your life, but your home is another. You don't usually have your boss at home, and normally you don't have to take your work home, your boss isn't at home telling you to do this and that. So, can you change your pace at home? Can you improve your environment so that you are able to develop more spiritually and not be so speedy?