January 20, 2019
I don’t remember when I put this down in my blog topics but “holy shit I just had a moment. I thought everything was going great now and then made myself chill because everything had been bad for a minute. It’s all just part of the cycle and to embrace it, good and bad. Just like one of my favorite meditations. Holy shit! Best day.
Admittedly it’s way easier to embrace the cool shit though.”
Let’s break that down a bit. I don’t even remember what I got excited about that day. I do that a lot, get excited about shit and then forget all about it. I wish I could harness it in the moment and use that on myself later when I’m not as uh…high energy. But I imagine it’s a good practice to remember that not everything good will last forever; that everything bad will also not last forever. If you do that right away it’s kinda not fun in that it removes you from the moment but at the same time, lets you maybe appreciate it more.
Incremental improvements and recognizing ‘em, seems to be a thing for me lately. The recognizing, not the actual incremental. And that’s pretty cool.
My favorite meditation is the “Attending to Awareness” one from Jon Kabatt-Zinn in the 10% Happier app. When I first heard it there was a certain disarming magicalness to it. After multiple repeated listenings the shininess has worn off but I still enjoy it the most. Maybe it’s a combination of short duration and disarming style. I enjoyed his book “Wherever You Go, There You Are” and in fact, I enjoyed it so much I have two copies. I didn’t actually enjoy it that much I just bought it once at Half-Price Books and then 4 months later I was there and thought “oh man I need to get this book” and bought a second copy like biiiiitch…maybe you should be more mindful of your purchases.
Anyway, I have an extra copy if anyone wants to borrow it. Just let me know via carrier pigeon or if you are feeling saucy, send a raven and the maester will make sure I receive your message.
Roughly two years into semi-regular meditation practice I’m learning that I’m still a beginner. My buddy Zom started at the beginning of this year and we’re basically at the same skill level. It’s pretty nuts when you think about it. Now I have a vague understanding of what the 30+ year meditators were saying on the 10% Happier Podcast when they said “if you get distracted, focus on your breath” and well, if you can do that you’re at my level – level zero!
Another thing I’ve gained, which I want to attribute to meditation but maybe it’s just a facet of growing older, is that I am getting slightly less nosy. Like, I still want to know what’s going on but I’m not going to ask about it. Maybe that means I’m level one?
