I, and many people I talk with, struggle with sitting meditation. We claim we can’t sit still long enough to meditate because our minds jump from one thing to another and won’t settle down. Which is, of course, exactly why meditation is an important practice for almost all of us. We don’t meditate because our minds are already peaceful and calm! We practice meditation (like a swimmer swims laps, a batter goes to the batting cage, a golfer to the practice range, an artist makes sketches) because we aspire to have a peaceful mind in the midst of a chaotic life. The more chaotic our mind, the more opportunities we have to wake up and to notice that it has run away and to bring it back to the present moment. If we just sat down and “nothing crossed our mind”, we’d have no opportunity to practice at all! If our mind wasn’t a mad ping-pong ball, we wouldn’t need to meditate. Sometimes taming that crazy monkey mind is slow, challenging and boring work. Over and over, getting it to come back to the present moment. And why? So that we can notice the present moment and all that it holds and live fully in it.
I often need to be reminded that the purpose of meditation is not to be “calm” –- the purpose is to be fully present (awake and aware) to whatever arises – without judgment or preference. A tall order!!
Here are some quotes and reminders I have found that speak to me and encourage me in my own practice of sitting meditation;
~ “Let me stop do-ing”
~ “Inside each of us there is a silence. We are afraid of it and we long for it.”
~ “Cultivating a peaceful heart is the journey of a lifetime.”
~ “Meditation is about gaining self-kindness.”
~ “The goal is to overcome/defuse negativity in my mind”. –Sylvia Boorstein
~ “This moment – is passing”. Sylvia Boorstein
~ “In meditation, you are not trying to get from here to there…. You are trying to get from there to HERE!” - Jack Kornfield