Stop The Dragging. . .
Someone sits down to meditate. Ten seconds later: Did I answer that email? What should I eat tonight? My knee hurts. Why did she say that yesterday? Am I doing this wrong? I need toothpaste.
Eventually the frustrated meditator concludes: “I’m terrible at meditation.”
Actually, they have just discovered the mind. Meditation doesn’t require thoughts to disappear. It teaches us to change our relationship with thoughts.
Imagine standing beside a road watching cars pass. You don’t need to stop every car, identify every driver or ask for a ride. You simply notice: There goes one.
Thoughts can be approached similarly. A memory appears, notice it. A worry appears – notice it. Then gently return attention to breathing or whatever object of meditation you are using. Ten seconds later, another thought appears. Return again. That returning isn’t failure – that returning is meditation.
This matters because the same skill eventually follows us into daily life. Someone criticizes us and a thought appears: “They don’t respect me.” Normally we climb immediately into that thought and drive it around for six hours.
Awareness creates another possibility.
We notice:
There is hurt.
There is anger.
There is the desire to defend myself.
And suddenly we have options.
Meditation isn’t necessarily training us to become people who never think. It is helping us recognize that thoughts are mental events rather than commands.
Some thoughts are useful.
Some are wise.
Some are nonsense.
Some are old fears wearing new clothing.
You don’t have to believe everything your mind produces.
So next time meditation becomes noisy, don’t declare the session ruined. Notice the noise. Return. Notice. Return.
Again.
Again.
Again.
That seemingly insignificant movement may be one of the most important skills Buddhist practice teaches. We aren’t learning how to eliminate the mind. We are learning how to stop being dragged around by everything it says.
Peace and Love, Jim
#return #thedailybuddha #tdb
