It’s all the rage right now.
Medi-freaking-tation.
“Just meditate and the answers will come”
“Meditation changes your neural pathways.”
“Meditate for just 10 minutes a day and your life will be likened to riding around on magical unicorns and everything you eat will taste like ice cream.”
Right? Nope. Nope, not at all. This is so incredibly misleading, this message spewed at us in every direction from every health coach turned mindfulness guru. Most of you likely feel awful when you hear or read this stuff because even when you diligently meditate, you probably still have problems, you probably still get seething mad, you still might feel like hot garbage, you still might not be living the life of your dreams, and you might even feel like a failure that you don’t yet see the beauty in every gosh darn minute.
The reality for you and your meditation practice might look more like this – yes you meditate, but you’re just sitting still for a few minutes while you try really hard to focus on your breath and then end up spending ten precious minutes of your day watching your monkey mind run ragged, only able to land any focus on your breath for maybe a hot second to then once again watch your brain roam relentless, like the untamed animal it is.
To say that meditation is the one thing that will change your life and if you aren’t doing it then you’re never going to reach any level of enlightenment, well that’s simply not the truth….
Want to know the real truth? Meditation, in my opinion is truly important, and incredibly life changing BUT it’s practice, it’s hard work, it’s commitment to being with yourself and it’s surrendering to what’s happening right now. What if, in the process of meditation – you did more than just try hard at the act of meditation with all sorts of judgment attached to the outcome? What if you made your LIFE an act of meditation, and a chance to be more of who you want to be right now!?
What if during your meditation practice, you also made the conscious effort to see the world differently? What if, as you sit silently with yourself, you allowed space for what’s happening right now to be exactly as it should be? What if you also surrendered totally to any given moment during the day? What if you started with just one moment, where you decide to let things unfold and even if as the moment unfolds it’s hard, or hurtful, or there’s fear – you decide to just let go, to stay open, and to trust that this is likely an opportunity to step onto the path of your dreams, rather than another obstacle propelling you farther away. What if the challenges you face are actually the answers?
What if you allow the physical stress of a difficult moment to melt away and you allow yourself instead to feel exactly what you need to feel as you observe, as you accept, and as you move through what’s happening with a clear point of observation and without attachment to what happens next? What if you put yourself first, with love, with admiration, and with care?
What if you stopped talking so much about your problems and instead, just sat with them, in silence, for even a few minutes, and leaned into your intuition, and took action, calm action, without a big fuss, or without a lot of drama, and as you do so, you allow it all unfold as it should.
What if you stopped standing by and stopped wallowing in the pain and let it lift you up instead. What you if decided that right now can be ok because you are pure love. What if you did all of that AND you mediated every single day with the intention of showing up for your life in a way you never have before? What if you let go of trying to make sure you aren’t in the way of others and you decide to get out of your own way instead? What if you did the really hard work the rest of the day, not just the 10 minutes you sit down to meditate?
Biggest of all, what if you screw all of my suggestions up and yet you decided to love yourself anyway and to truly believe that tomorrow is another day and that you are 100% worthy of trying again, and again, and again, until the surrender and clarity and letting go becomes easier?
The pain will still come, the tough decisions will still present themselves, the anger will still spill out, but what if you could OWN IT ALL and know that your heart is what leads the way, and that you are always ok, and that no matter what, you are always exactly where you should be?
What if doing all of this led you to the realization that what we have right now is enough, or that you can change the trajectory of your life in order to be valued in the way you should be. What if this mindset finally helps you walk away from an abusive relationship. What if this mindset helps you close the door on addiction. What if your commitment to being present helps your child, your neighbor, or your friend to show up for their own lives in a way they wouldn’t have otherwise.
What if you decide to serve every single day with love, and love for yourself and for the universe and for God – whatever God means to you? What if you decided to live from the perspective that we all have a higher purpose, that we are all connected, and that we are all worthy of the same amount of love. What if this way of thinking was contagious, and you could help this kind of contagious love spread?
Or, what if you stay exactly where you are right now?
What if you decide that this is all a pile of garbage, and that meditation really does suck?
What if…
The term meditation has been expanded to all types of practices. Many with conscious effort. This is the complete opposite of a 5,000 year old practice today is known as TM. Consider the book Strength in Stillness by Bob Roth.