Lesson #21: Meditate daily

Meditation has been a journey for me. For something that is essentially very simple, I have explored and approached this topic from so many angles at so many times and had so many different experiences .. from Zen meditation in Japanese temples to Vipassana meditation in huts in Japan, Australia and India, to breathwork fueled full body buzzing, to daily practices ranging from two hours to five minutes, meditation is something I keep coming back to (after stopping) again and again. Last year I had a daily practice where I set my alarm for 11.11 minutes. This year, I seem to get to midnight where I’m writing the day’s lesson, and realise I haven’t yet meditated, and in a state of exhaustion sit for a moment before I lay down and drop to sleep. I tell myself that I’m meditating in daily life, and to some extent that’s true. My word for this year is Awaken, and I certainly have moments every day where I am present to and appreciating the beauty and magic of the world and my life. But it’s pretty crazy how easy it can be to spend a days where I don’t even find five minutes to ‘just sit’.

I think a trick is ensuring it is done before midday.

One of the things I most love about meditation is how simple it is (after all, it is simply being still and bringing awareness to the moment) and yet how hard it is .. how hard it is to ‘do nothing’.

I have a pile of books about meditation which is pretty ironic .. but also pretty wonderful .. that books can be written about this simple practice. Ultimately I think the challenge of meditation is the ‘ego’ ie our human experience, getting in the way of our ‘spirit’/our ‘being’. Perhaps this is the ultimate challenge of being human. And I love challenges. So maybe that’s why I love meditation.

As I write this I’m present to my being .. and my human .. again overtired and ready for sleep and past midnight. I’m doing my practice as I write, before I publish this post, close my laptop, sit for a moment, and then lay down to sleep.

Good night.