TIP OF THE WEEK

TIP OF THE WEEK IS A WEEKLY SERIES OF VERY SHORT, EASY TO REMEMBER, AND BASIC TIPS ON MEDITATION. PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK, IS IT HELPFUL?

Too often we make time to meditate and then after our session, we get on with life. This week’s tip is to do just the opposite; don’t make any time for your meditation and just get on with your life. What?!

Look, if you’re just into meditation to take a break from the world then seriously, why bother? Meditation takes too much time to learn if the only practice that you get is when you’re sitting on a cushion, or a chair, or by a stream, or looking out into the mountains (my favorite!) And at least to me, meditation can be a real waste of time if you’re not using it in your daily life.

When I began meditating, I so enjoyed the little periods of bliss that I had while sitting on my cushion; it’s such a shame that the other activities and factors in my daily life had to “kill my buzz!” At first, I tried really hard to meditate better, longer, deeper, whatever. And it seemed that when I was practicing, I could actually have longer and “buzzier” periods of meditation. But still, my encounters with daily obstacles seemed to lack the luster of my meditation sessions.

Slowly, very slowly, I began to get that my “buzz” wasn’t what meditation was about; I began to see that my bliss-sessions on my cushion were more like an excuse not to engage with the world. What I began to see was that being present in the midst of our impossible thoughts and feelings is a lot more difficult than sitting on a cushion and having a chill-session.

So, ONLY for this week or at least for today and tomorrow, if you have a meditation routine, stop meditating. Instead, just take time throughout the day to notice your feelings without trying to change them. See how many times a day (or hour?) you experience feelings like desire, anger, jealousy, envy, boredom, and lethargy. Check in with yourself, do you like the feelings? Do you like how your body feels when you’re experiencing feelings such as anger or jealousy? What do you do when you experience these kinds of emotions? Where does your mind go?

Next, just notice your thoughts throughout the day and see what happens to your mind when you engage in mindless wandering, daydreaming, fantasies, and dullness. See how your body feels when you find yourself following thoughts or concerns about the future or wishing something in the past had been different.

Finally, in midst of all of this thinking and feeling…don’t meditate! That’s right, don’t meditate. Instead, when you’re noticing your thoughts, just relax your mind, without thinking about your thoughts, and see how it feels. When you notice feelings arise, just notice your feelings arising and how your body feels. But whatever you do, don’t try to meditate during these times.

Meditation works best when we allow it to change and take form in ways that are applicable to our daily life. This exercise in not meditating is about learning how to integrate the meditative-mind into your daily life without necessarily having to “meditate.” And after all, since meditation is about being in a state of non-distraction, how you’re being is more important than what you’re doing. I hope that this post helps you to do just that. But if it doesn’t or if you’d like to clarify anything that I’ve written, please leave a comment below or contact me. Enjoy!

(If you want some cool tools to help you to remember to check in with yourself during the day, try some of these smartphone and computer apps. They’re perfect for setting reminders to do a “check in.” Alternatively, you can get an egg timer and set it for every hour to remind you to stop doing and just be.)