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This book describes 101 Spiritually Based Mindfulness Practices. This practice does not depend upon any particular belief system or religious background; yet it is deeply rooted in spirituality. More specifically, this practice is interspiritual. As an interspiritual practice it draws upon the wisdom of many spiritual traditions.
Rather than focusing on the teachings of any specific religion, we focus on the experiences of the founders of the world's great religions. Most religions did not begin with a teaching but with an experience that changed the life of one individual. From this experience arose a set of teachings and eventually a movement. The movement gradually crystallized into a structured form we know as organized religion.
The term spirituality is very general, so let’s unpack this term as we use it in this book. Our premise is that we are essentially spiritual beings and that we are having a human experience. Our spiritual nature is permanent, our human nature is not.
As spiritual beings our potential is unlimited. As human beings it appears that we are limited. Our human experience is an opportunity to realize and express qualities of our spiritual nature within human experience. As such, there are universal spiritual principles that are available to every one of us.
The primary spiritual principle described in this book is that of Presence. Presence simply means being fully awake to our present experience with an open heart. Despite the lofty language, the practice is immediate, pragmatic, and down to earth. The present moment is always where we start and where we return.
Most of these practices can be employed in a period of formal meditation as well as being applied in our everyday life. Both are recommended.
In this book we explore these practices in the context of everyday life. We also describe the practice within the context of Buddhism, Western psychology, and the theory of conscious evolution.
For the past decade, the author has published a blog on various aspects of this practice. The blog is currently published monthly on the author’s website: www.robertbrumet.com.
This book is a compilation of these blogs. Since these blogs have been written over a long period of time you may find a duplication of certain quotes or stories.
This book can be used in many ways. It may be read cover to cover. It can be used as a textbook for a class or a course of study. It may be used in a book study group. (Questions for discussion are in appendix A). It can be used as a reference book when seeking information about a particular topic or practice.
May all beings be free.
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There are a couple of positions for this practice.
(It’s important to be very patient with yourself and to not engage in expectations or self judgement.)
There are several strategies for this practice.
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You are a spiritual being having a human experience. Your human experience may be pleasant and joyful or unpleasant and difficult. Your happiness lies more in your response to these experiences than in the experience itself. This book contains more than one hundred teachings that are your guide on the journey home to your true self. It will show you how to make every experience a steppingstone on that journey.
Robert Brumet was born in Toledo, Ohio when a postage stamp cost three cents, gasoline was nineteen cents a gallon, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had not yet occurred. Raised Catholic from birth, at age twenty he became strict he became a strident agnostic.
Nearly a decade later he became an avid spiritual seeker, through a series of extraordinary experiences, beginning with a poltergeist infestation in his home. Five years later he discovered a Unity Church in Grand Rapids MI and six years later he landed in Kansas City, MO to begin studies in Unity ministry. He was ordained a Unity minister in 1980 and served churches in Indiana and Kansas.
Robert discovered Insight Meditation in 1988, through a Dharma teacher named Shinzen Young. The following year he joined the faculty at Unity Institute and Seminary where he taught, spiritual development, pastoral counseling, prayer and meditation for twenty-seven years. During that time, he authored four books and traveled extensively, leading meditation retreats and seminars.
He has been leading a sangha (meditation group) since 1990. Under the tutelage of Jack Kornfield, Ajahn Amaro, and other Dharma teachers at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, he was certified a Community Dharma Leader in 2000.
Robert was certified as a Spiritual Director at Mount St. Scholastica Seminary in 2012, and he played a leading role in creating the Unity Spiritual Direction Program, which began functioning in 2021.
Now an octogenarian, Robert is still highly active to this day. He currently serves as a spiritual guide for many individuals, writes monthly blog articles, teaches at the Temple Buddhist Center in Kansas City, MO.
Robert has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Toledo, in Ohio, and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Unity Institute. But his proudest accomplishment is being a father to four amazing children, grandpa to seven incredible grandchildren and grandpops to eleven astonishing great-grandchildren!
*By purchasing Remembering Who You Truly Are you’re contributing to a greater cause. 100% of the proceeds from every sale are donated to a nonprofit organization, with the recipient changing each month to support a wide range of impactful initiatives.
Every book is like an iceberg: there is much more that is hidden than is visible! This book is a compilation of a ten-year period of monthly or semi-monthly blogs. I would like to thank the many people who have supported me in that effort.
Specifically, I want to thank John Flaherty for his countless hours of painstaking editing and multifaceted support on this project.
I want to thank Julia and Russell Viers for their very generous and timely support in the final editing and the publication of this book.
May our efforts serve the awakening of all beings.
– Robert Brumet
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