Last Updated on November 25, 2024

Life can get better and better

Recently I’ve been doing 2 hours a day of meditation.

That might sound like a lot.

But consider that the average American watches 4+ hours of TV and digital video daily.

One might ask, “How did you get yourself to do it?”

I don’t feel like I have to “push myself” to meditate that long.

I don’t need “discipline.”

Quite the opposite!

It’s the most enjoyable 2 hours of my entire day.

The real question is, “Why haven’t I been doing this all along?”

How good can you stand it?

When I first tried meditating in high school, it was anything but enjoyable.

I picked up a book at the used bookstore by a Vietnamese monk named Thích Nhất Hạnh (pronounced “Tic Nat Han”).

He recommended starting with just 5 minutes of meditation.

So I got a pillow off my bed, sat on it on the floor, and started a stopwatch.

2 minutes later, I got up.

I was so uncomfortable, I couldn’t even sit for 5 minutes.

I felt like I was crawling out of my skin.

My knees and back were in searing pain.

My emotions were overwhelmingly intense.

And my mind was pure chaos.

In fact, for the first few years of my meditation practice, I mostly just sat and suffered.

When I moved to Boulder, Colorado in 2001, I started meditating at the local meditation center on Monday nights.

People would talk about how peaceful and blissful they felt.

I just felt like crap!

But nevertheless, I persisted.

It’s good to feel good

These days I sit easily for 45-60 minutes without moving, and it just feels better and better.

I enter a deep, relaxed trance state within seconds and can stay there the whole time.

Layer after layer of stress and tension just melts out of my body and mind.

I didn’t get here because I suffered enough and “earned it.”

I got here because I learned how to stop creating needless suffering for myself.

I learned how to relax tight muscles that were causing me physical pain.

I learned how to love parts of myself that were causing me emotional pain.

And I learned how to let go of needless thoughts that were causing me mental pain.

The reason I haven’t been meditating for 2 hours a day until recently isn’t because it doesn’t feel good.

It’s because I didn’t think it was OK to feel this good!

Not while people are suffering.

Not while the world is in such chaos.

But now, I’m starting to believe the opposite.

When I feel good, I’m a better partner to my wife.

When I feel good, I’m a better friend to my friends.

When I feel good, I’m a better coach to my clients.

It’s not about spiritual bypassing or toxic positivity.

It’s about taking in the good, and transforming the bad with awareness and love.

Imagine if you were surrounded by people who uplifted each other when they felt down.

What an amazing world we could create together. 😊

Take care,

 

 

 

~Duff
(they/them)