If you can practice even when distracted, you are well trained. What does it mean? Here a student at Middle Way School, explains slogan 22 in our series of students explaining Atisha’s mind-training slogans. This slogan is about getting the feel for our practice so that the very experience of whatever stirs us up or upsets us becomes a reminder to work directly with our experience.

“According to this slogan, instead of waging a kind of battle with distractions you can co-opt them as supports for your practice. It is like setting a default tendency toward mindfulness and bodhichitta, so that the moment a distraction arises, it brings us right back.” —Judy Lief, in “Working with the Slogans of Atisha — A practical guide to leading a compassionate life”

Pema Chodron suggests that the slogan, “Always maintain only a joyful mind” and “If you can practice even when distracted, you are well trained” are closely related. In Start Where You Are she says that, “…the best gift you can give yourself is to lighten up. One way to do that is to let distraction bring you back to the present moment Another way is to be curious. In addition, when things are really heavy and you feel stuck in either your joy or your misery, just do something different to change the pattern. Tonglen is a good suggestion of what you could do.”

Find more resources via this Index of lojong slogans.

Video by @chase.c.bauer