I'm about to tell you the truth about meditation. While it is an amazing tool to grow our awareness of peace, often it feels precisely the opposite.
Finding the time, space, and motivation are also factors that are working against us.
Trust me.
I get it.
I do my best to push through these obstacles because with consistency, the benefits of stillness becomes its own reward. It's a rare day I skip meditating and when I do, I attempt to incorporate all distractions thrown at me into my practice. All this means is I notice the distraction, label it, and then, in an ideal world, I let it go.
And then sometimes I just don't. I just absolutely cannot stay focused and I have to sit in my frustration and deal with it, or call it early and move on with my day. This is part of it. It doesn't mean I've failed, it just means I'll try again the next day.
Over our holiday break, I had some challenges finding space away from everyone to meditate. It doesn't matter how stealth I am because I am always found.
For instance, one morning I crept down to my husband's office as he wouldn't be using it, placed myself on the couch and started to watch my breathing while noting my thoughts. Soon my oldest son popped in and asked me a question, then my husband came in to answer an email, but the ultimate test of focus came in the furry, fuzzy, curious form of my girl, Nora. While normally she loves meditating if I am up in our primary bedroom, this new setting was driving her nuts. She pawed at my arm, growled in growing degrees of intensity, and could not fathom that I would not pet her. How dare I?
I didn't give in. My session was 20 minutes in length, about 17 of these were with Nora giving her all to get me to interact with her. She did settle at the end, but at that point, it all seemed rather futile.
But this is how it's done. Nora wasn't being anything but helpful here. She was teaching me to stay the course because we all know life outside a meditation practice is anything but peaceful.
In this way, everything in our life becomes holy if we allow it.
Watch. Listen. Allow. Then, turn yourself towards Home.
Be thankful for the for teachers you find along the way.
Inward and Onward
