Another call to meditation

Yet again, I am turned to affirm the spiritual practice of sitting meditation. I am reading Connie Zweig’s book “The Inner Work of Age” in which she talks about the importance of being able to embrace both the possibilities and the diminishment of aging. What better way to practice this acceptance than through the daily reminder of sitting meditation? As I sit and observe my own breathing, I get to see how much I resist sitting. How my mind will do almost anything to escape the difficulty of being still. I get to remind myself that there is no more important task than slowing down and finding enjoyment. That there is no more important thing than learning to “let go”. Who am I when I do nothing?

In the book Zweig advises us not to wait to start our spiritual practice until it’s too late. “We need that clear, quiet awareness to center us in the midst of the hits that keep coming with age.”

And so, I recommit to my sitting practice… trying to approach it with the possible joy of stillness rather than as a task I need to check off before I can “start my day”!

Clearing

by Martha Postlewaite Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. Only then will you know how to give yourself to this world so worthy of rescue.