Jack Kornfield – Integrating Spiritual Life Into Everyday Life
How To Integrate Spiritual Life with Everyday Life
Jack Kornfield is one of the world’s most respected meditation teachers. He has been a pioneer in bringing mindfulness, meditation and buddhist teachings to the West.
He is a co-founder of the Spirit Rock Meditation Centre and the best selling author of several books on the topics of mindfulness meditation and spiritual practice.
In this interview, Melli talks to Jack about how to integrate spiritual life with everyday life.
Jack clears up some common misconceptions about what it means to be a mindful person and shares why he believes cultivating a peaceful heart within is the most powerful way to cultivate peace without.
You’ll also hear how to overcome the biggest obstacle to mindful living.
Show Notes
Join The Mindfulness Summit Journey here
Come and join the community discussions at any time on our Facebook page
You can check out Jack’s website here http://www.jackkornfield.com where you can also find out about his books and events.
Here is Jack’s groundbreaking online meditation course
http://www.soundstrue.com/store/power-of-awareness/free-video-series
Audio
Video
Transcript
Buy full access pass
Purchase a full access pass to unlock downloads for the full interview transcripts, audio, video and separate audio meditation tracks.
Buy full access pass
Purchase a full access pass to unlock downloads for the full interview transcripts, audio, video and separate audio meditation tracks.
Buy full access pass
Purchase a full access pass to unlock downloads for the full interview transcripts, audio, video and separate audio meditation tracks.
Leave a Comment
About Post Author
140 Responses
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
This morning hour is mindfulness for me, listening to the talk. Have a mindful day 🙂
Really enjoyed this talk. Very simple and easy language. Thank you so much x
Yeah, today is so different and great:) It is obvious who is a great speaker and thinker and a person, just by looking and listening to him. Thanks.
Hi Mellie and Jack
Thank you so much for this talk. I have loved every summit interview so far but Jack was full of such deep insights that were so well articulated that for me I felt like I had a better understanding after this one. I wrote down so many quotes from what Jack said such as “the point isn’t to perfect yourself, it is to perfect your love”
And I particularly related to the story of the panic on a sinking boat and that if one person remains calm they can show others how to survive. Sometimes in our house the emotions and stress can build up as we negotiate the daily pressures and I know that if I remain calm it has a huge impact on everyone else in the family. A wonderful reminder of the power of one person holding a peaceful and compassionate awareness.
Thank you so much – with love and gratitude
Stephanie NZ
I agree with you Stephanie – very good interview today. I especially enjoyed 14:00
I enjoy the interviews more than the talks alone. Thank you Mellie for providing these interviews ☺️
Jack is my favourite author in this field so it was great to watch this as part of the summit. Thanks Jack and Thanks Team!
Beautiful, thank you
Jack once one of my fisrt sources of info on Mindfulness and Buddhism for that matter (about 20 years ago) and he never gets stale. And note how he doesn’t have to belittle others to get his point across. Insightful, humble and present.
Emotional maturity.
I agree – I love listening to Jack Kornfield – his insight, humour and compassion make it easier for me to digest what is being said – unlike speakers such as Sam Harris whose attack on religious people as a whole, has left me realising that many people who claim to be mindful, really are not …
Yup, mindfulness includes the intention behind what you say, how you say it and how you behave towards others. Otherwise it’s just contained within a sitting meditation or intellectualization.
Hi Kyla. I can not agree more. He is wonderful and humble man with a big heart full of wisdom. He makes you feel attentive, calm and serene when you listen to him…
Well stated. I agree
Thank you, thank you, both Mellie & Jack, for the peace, calm & insight.
Day 13 learnings I would like to share are ：
1. Mindfulness practice allows us to be more resilient and respond in a wiser way.
2. Pause and carry on in a different way.
3. We cannot spread peace if we are not peaceful or do not have a peaceful heart !
4. Allow us to see more clearly and step out of self occupation.
4. Allow us to walk in this world with a compassion heart and in the present.
Thank you !
Thanks for this list Christina. I copied and saved it because it is so concise.
Thanks Christina. Copying and saving as well. 🙂
Lovely! Thank you!
Thank you Jack and Melli. 24 minutes of perfect wisdom.
Jack had some pithy comments and I’d love the transcript. It doesn’t seem to be working, could that be fixed?
Thanks!
It can never said enough how mindfulness is an everyday experience, it’s not some exalted stated or something we have to attain and then keep grasping at it to keep it around. We find it in small moments and we let these insightful moments go without grasping at them just as we try to not avert from difficulty in life. LIfe is suffering and dissatisfaction by it’s nature, it’s how we respond to that and view them.
Thanks again Melli for this summit and Mr. Kornfield for this talk. “You can’t spread peace if you’re not peaceful”.–simple but hard to do. You can’t bully people ouside you into changing.
Thanks for this summit. It’s something that I look forward all these mornings. It’s reassuring, challenging, encouraging. I look forward to introduce Mindfulness in my classroom. Being a high school teacher, I see the urgent need to address teenagers with Mindfulness; to provide them with this important tool at this moment in their lives. So many disgraces and tragedies that we can avoid, if only we introduce this practice to this audience, precisely now.
I wish you were a teacher at my children’s school!
I believe implementing mindfulness at schools could change the world a lot faster and would create a healthier and wiser next generation.
what a lovely man! Enjoy your interviews Melli x
What a beautiful man.. Thank you so much Jack and, as ever, Melissa ♥
Jack is an absolute delight. A gentle man with a BIG message for everyone. Thank you Melli. ☺️
Thank you Mrs Mindfulness….this is such a wonderful experience of dosing myself daily with all these different facets of mindfulness.
I’m really defaulting to states of awareness throughout the day more and more, and even being aware of my own awareness too 🙂
Such a wonderful concept and experience, and perfect timing
Thank you Mellie and Matt
Metta
I liked when Jack said everything is a river coming out of consciousness.
Thank you both for your calming insights.
Ive always enjoyed Jack from way back in the 80’s , great calm peaceful man , with so much knowledge , it would be great to have 30 days with Jack ….
Well done Mellie and guys
Hi Melli. I have really enjoyed the Summit and have tried to listen to each speaker each day before I leave the house for work, setting me up with thoughts for my day.
I have only one suggestion. I am making them assumption that you are wearing bracelets in many of your interviews, as I hear what sounds like bracelets jingling, as you move about. The sound is high pitched, a bit harsh, and are very present throughout the entire interview when you move. It’s distracting sound makes it a struggle for me to enjoy the interviews.
Thank you again for your hard work to bring this together and I hope you remove the bracelets. Thank you.
Thank you Mellie and Jack. Today was so inspiring and given with such warmth and love.
Such a wonderful way to start the day!
Beautifully expressed! I feel the same way ….a wonderful way to start the day!
I, truly, appreciate this Summit….thank you!
I loved what Jack had to say. It all made so much sense, esp the part about how all our technology has not sorted out any conflict in the world. Mindfulness/heartfulness has to be the way forward.
Thank you,Jack for your insights and Melli for the initiative of this Summit. What will I do in November?
So much wisdom and love, many thanks!
Thank you, Jack! So simple, so deep and with so much love. A wonderful start to the day. Thank you, Meli for putting this together. I really like the informal format of the interview.
Hello Mellie, and Jack! I am eternally grateful to you Mellie for this summit, and to Jack for today’s session. I have spent a lifetime of worry. The simplicity of learning mindfulness as a daily practice has already made a difference in my daily life. I believe this can spread out across the world, This has been a wonderful, and tremendous journey. I am grateful beyond words!!
Thanks so much for the wisdom in this part of the summit. I just signed up for the three part video series he is doing. I don’t know if the deadline has passed, but I really feel comfort from his sense of mindfulness. Thanks again! ????
I want to download the transcript but it says “not found.” Will it be available, and if so, when?
This morning session was the loving kindness that I seek. The ripples will spread. My one regret- it was oh so short a session.
Melli, you are such a sweet angel for pulling this summit together. I am enjoying everyday fully. All the speakers have so many motes of life magic. Feeling continuous gratitude. Agi 🙂
Just Beautiful!!!!!!!
Thank you for the time and effort in bringing this Mindfulness Summit to the world. I totally agree with Jack’s insight that the qualities of compassion, kindness and wisdom needs to catch up with the technological advances made in society. I am quietly optimistic that this is happening and my heartfelt desire is that our major systems be it science, business, education, health etc, can all come from a space of mindfulness wisdom.
“There are many ways that I have hurt and harmed others, have betrayed or abandoned them, caused them suffering, knowingly or unknowingly, out of my pain, fear, anger, and confusion.
Let yourself remember and visualize the ways you have hurt others. See the pain you have caused out of your own fear and confusion. Feel your own sorrow and regret. Sense that finally you can release this burden and ask for forgiveness. Take as much time as you need to picture each memory that still burdens your heart. And then as each person comes to mind, gently say:
I ask for your forgiveness, I ask for your forgiveness.”
― Jack Kornfield, The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace
A journey wrought with the behavior of diagnosed illness of the mind, leaves us disconnected from others due to our often inability to accept things as in reality they truly are. In today’s world, there is finally opportunity for an entire family to grow together through abt challenges conditions such as Depression or PTSD can bring forth for everyone.
We all must want to face such dragons as this together. For the one who is ill, primary support of family takes education of all. We have that as a choice we can make together, acceptance of quality education to help us make sense of the collective experience of illness.
We are so vitally interconnected. If we’re aren’t able to succeed together at transcending, as best we can, the mire of diagnosed mental illness, we can get stuck in the mud, stuck in life and living with only pain and continued collective suffering.
Love, Compassion, Empathy, Altruism: This is our nature. This is the best of ourselves that longs for the light of every moment, of every day.
Mindfulness opens ab inner-door to acceptance of life, as is. Mindfulness opens the mind to acceptance of ourselves, as is. Mindfulness opens us all to accept one another, as is. Reality comes into full view, as we learn to pay such close attention.
I’m feeling so very blessed to have this Summit come around, at just the right time.
“When the Student Is Ready: The Teachers Come.”
You are all such incredible teachers. Thank you.
Be Well
Thank you Darren, really appreciate this quote from Jack Kornfield. Have come to see constant forgiveness of oneself and others as an important practice.
I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Jack because he lives his life with integrity and has remained on the path for many years. He’s a true spiritual leader. Thank you so much for bringing Jack to us in Q and A format! I love his teaching style, the way he weaves great stories and quotes into his points. It’s a great metaphor for his point here about bringing mindfulness to all aspects of our lives.
For anyone who hasn’t read his books, I highly recommend them. He has a wry sense of humor, an intrinsic humility, and is a great storyteller. “After the Ecstacy, the Laundry” is one of my all time favorites… Hoping that Mindfulness Training is still available.
Thanks again.
Yup. Even the title says more about mindfulness and life than most books.
Jack Kornfield is a legend. So many legends have joined this summit. Very extraordinary. Thank you.
Just wonderful. One of the best so far. Loved his talking about mindfulness as being intimate with life.
Jack is like a breath of fresh air! He made me understand what mindfulness is really all about. It’s a concrete day-to-day way of awakening to each moment, to each person and to each feeling that arises. So beautiful.
Wow what an amazing summit. I am a novice just staring out and am extremely grateful as i learn so much each day. Thank you for sharing the vast ability of so many possibilities. Peace, Honor & Repect
Thank you again so much Mellie – I have followed Jack’s work for many years and find his teachings so accessible and down to earth. Inspirational stuff xx
I thank you for this talk today and as somebody say “simple it is not easy” but simple has the power of clarity and as all in this human world need practice to achieve mastery. However, the right practice has high quality and tenderness because it is embraced by True Love.
Really enjoyed today, Thank you. The quote “Mr Duffy lived a short distance from his body” it made me laugh !? So true
Thank you so much for the wonderful time with Jack Kornfield. He is like the single person in the refugee boat, his peacefulness can be felt even through the internet and spread throughout the airwaves.
Peace
I really enjoyed this talk. Jack emanates peacefulness. He has a very calm and soothing voice. I look forward to his and Tara Brach’s online mindfulness course, which starts on October 19.
Beautiful message!. Lots to learn and apply to my life.
Thanks.
Enjoyed today so very much and so far have found the speakers all very enlightening.
http://www.alanpeto.com/buddhism/buddhism-secrets-of-cats/
Fun and light. Just substitute mindfulness for Buddhism if Buddhism is not for you.
Melli, thank you so much for this summit! I appreciate the wide range of guests that you have gathered from all over the world to share their wisdom. It is helping me with my journey into mindfulness.
As usual, when you listen to Jack with his usual serenity and calming voice, you always get benefit of some kind. Thank you Melli for this session, I really enjoyed every second of it….
Thankyou Jack and melli. A truly inspiring session.