Spinning your wheels?
A friend of mine has been avoiding meditation for years. This isn’t an “I just don’t have 5 minutes to stop and do nothing — I’m a busy woman,” attitude, it’s a “Meditation scares me, I’m not gonna do it, it ain’t gonna happen, and you’re not the boss of me so you can’t make me,” attitude.
While most people will tell you they’re too busy to meditate, what you’ll find is that meditation actually scares most people who aren’t familiar with it. There are (unfounded) religious connotations, even spiritual connotations, psychological aversions, the “woo-woo” factor… and while none of these fears are logical or correct, they are enough to stop people from benefiting from meditation.
Well, my friend finally meditated. Another friend finally convinced her to go to a class with her. In her own words:
“I went to a meditation session on Saturday morning for the first time ever. [My friend, meaning me] has been encouraging me to meditate for years now, but it’s just never something that I’ve had much patience for. I’ve dabbled here and there, and it’s helped at times but it’s not something I’ve ever tried to make permanent. Well, the workshop was good and I was able to stay pretty still the whole time (each of my feet fell asleep at one point or another, and I slumped forward, but I was pretty happy with myself!). It was a meditation focused on breathing. Counting breaths, then just flowing with the breaths and imagining them as waves against the shore…it was interesting. There was part of my brain that was like, “Aaah, I want to get out of this room!” but I kept it under control and I stayed for the whole one-hour session. I felt calm afterward, and … I did feel calm for the rest of the day.”
Oh yeah, some people think meditation is ’sitting still’, and think they just couldn’t do it. Another misconception. My response to the above was:
“For the record, your brain is like a hamster in its wheel, spinning wildly around and getting no where but worn out. Meditation is merely “freeing the hamster” and letting it go free. It’s scary to be out of the cage, because well… “NOW what???” It keeps running wildly, because that’s all it’s been allowed to do for so long. As a meditator, your focus is to just let the hamster run free. Notice where it runs, and just have no judgments about it. Eventually your brain learns there’s more to life than chasing after things (vain ambitions, material possessions, validation from others…). It realizes what it wants, and understands that to get it, you get it consciously, not by spinning your wheels.”
Meditation is actually FREEDOM! And THAT is what so many avoid. Letting your mind think outside of the ’safe’ little box and being free for a while. Another way to describe meditation is: Just Being. Nothing more. Just being. Here. Now. In the present. Embracing the moment. And you can do that anywhere, anytime. But most of us don’t. We’re too busy judging and defining the situation at hand. Our mind is measuring whether we’re safe or not. And while we’re busy thinking, life is happening all around us, and we miss out on the experience.
What does that mean?
For me right now, it means writing this post. But while writing, not doing it in haste while thinking of the thousand other things I need to get done today. It means realizing that it is a beautiful Sunday outside, and listening to the doves cooing on my porch, and notice the other birds gathering branches to build their nests. It means being tuned in to the lazy drum outside, my quiet apartment inside. In this place, I feel connected to them. This is meditation.
For many, meditation is watching TV. “You know, I just need to tune out once in a while.” This is true, the brain needs to tune out from the hubbub and noise of the world. The noise of your own brain. But TV does not do that. Your brain may not be thinking for itself, but you’re filling it with more noise and light pollution. More garbage that needs emptied out later. You’re still stuck in your head, watching people live mind-created dramas. Monkey see monkey do.
What’s the assignment for this week?
Nay, for the rest of your life. Tune in! Meditation is not tuning out, it’s tuning back in. Plugging in to Life. It means not missing out on a single moment because you’re so fully embracing what is enfolding right before you. It means Just Being.
Stop several times throughout the day, and step out of the hubbub for five minutes. One minute. Three breaths. However long you can. Tune in to sounds, tastes, smells around you. Tune in to the sensations of your body. Tune in to the energy of others, or the energy in the air. Tune in as many times as you can, and embrace Life and Living.
Living is a sacred art, and you are the artist. In this moment, mold the clay of Life into what you would see it become.
April 19th, 2009