“There is …”

“There is …”

A wise and warm reflection on purification through NOTING, abiding, and Pure Mind

1. The Experience of Purification Through NOTING

Purification, in this sense, is not about becoming better, purer, or free of difficulty. It is about removing what obscures—the extra layers of struggle, judgment, and resistance that cloud direct experience.

The simple act of NOTING—especially with the phrase “There is …”—has a quiet power.
When the mind softly names experience without commentary, something profound happens:

  • Experience is recognized

  • Identification loosens

  • Awareness steps forward

Instead of “I am afraid,” there is
“There is fear.”

Instead of “My life is overwhelming,” there is
“There is heaviness.”

This shift is subtle but purifying.
It cleanses the mind of the belief that experience is who we are rather than what is arising.

NOTING does not analyze or fix.
It illuminates.

And what is illuminated no longer needs to shout, hide, or harden.

Over time, this gentle illumination clears the inner atmosphere. The mind becomes simpler, more transparent, more honest. This is purification—not by force, but by truthfulness.

2. The Benefits of NOTING with “There is …”

Using “There is …” keeps the practice impersonal, kind, and spacious. It protects the heart from self-blame and the mind from over-effort.

Key benefits include:

• Reduced identification
“There is fear” prevents fear from becoming me.

• Nervous system settling
Naming without judgment signals safety. The body no longer has to defend itself.

• Increased clarity
Life becomes easier to see when it is not filtered through opinion.

• Natural humility and reverence
“There is life.”
“There is today.”
“There is breathing.”
Ordinary experience regains quiet sacredness.

• Strengthened presence
Each note brings the mind back from stories into immediacy.

• Gentle continuity of practice
NOTING can occur while walking, washing dishes, or waking in the night.

This form of noting does not fragment experience—it gathers it into wholeness.

3. Abiding with Fear and Bodily Contraction

Fear often lives in the body before it becomes a story.

Tightness in the chest
Contraction in the belly
A holding in the throat
A bracing in the shoulders

The practice here is abiding, not confronting.

A gentle sequence:

  1. Arrive
    Feel the body supported. Let the breath be natural.

  2. Name simply

    • “There is fear.”

    • “There is tightening.”

    • “There is contraction in the chest.”

  3. Stay close
    Bring attention into the sensation, not away from it.
    Let awareness surround the contraction like warm hands.

  4. Allow
    No demand for release.
    Fear is permitted to be exactly as it is.

  5. Widen
    Sense the whole body breathing.
    Fear exists within awareness, not outside of it.

This abiding is deeply purifying.
Fear learns it does not need to escalate to be acknowledged.
The body learns it is not alone.

Sometimes contraction softens.
Sometimes it does not.

Either way, oneness is restored—because nothing is excluded.

4. Strengthening Oneness with Pure Mind

Pure Mind is not a blank mind.
It is a non-hostile mind.

Oneness strengthens when the mind stops opposing experience.

Helpful orientations:

  • Let awareness be larger than experience

  • Let kindness be stronger than fear

  • Let presence be more important than outcome

Practices that support this:

  • Short, frequent moments of NOTING

  • Returning again and again to the body

  • Speaking inwardly with patience

  • Trusting that allowing is already healing

Pure Mind does not argue with life.
It listens.

And in listening, separation quietly dissolves.

5. Daily Practices That Purify and Stabilize the Soul

Alongside NOTING, these practices gently clarify and stabilize inner life:

• Equanimity reflection
Remembering that pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral experiences all arise and pass.

• Loving-kindness (metta)
Soft phrases offered inwardly and outwardly, especially toward difficulty.

• Gratitude noticing
Naming simple facts: There is warmth. There is shelter. There is breath.

• Silence periods
Short daily intervals without input—no fixing, no improving.

• Nature attunement
Letting trees, sky, water, and birds recalibrate the nervous system.

• Ethical simplicity
Living in ways that reduce inner conflict—truthfulness, restraint, gentleness.

• Evening review without judgment
Noting the day as it was: There was effort. There was kindness. There was forgetting.

Each of these clears residue—not by removing humanity, but by embracing it fully.

A Closing Word

Purification is not about becoming someone else.
It is about ceasing to abandon what is here.

Each time you note,
“There is …”
you stand in truth without cruelty.

Each time you abide with fear,
you restore belonging.

And each time you choose gentleness over resistance,
Pure Mind remembers itself.

Nothing is wasted.
Nothing is excluded.
Life is quietly healing itself—right where you are.

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