It likely won’t surprise you that at the start of every morning I meditate. I noticed the other day on my timer app that I’ve done so for over a thousand days straight now. These sessions have mostly been sitting on a small grain filled cushion. But not always. Sometimes they’ve been on loud, crowded, and hot buses in Guatemala or lying flat on my back in a chilly tent along the Inca Trail.
A fair question might be what the impact of this practice has been. Well, I’m not sure I’m enlightened yet and I certainly don’t levitate above my cushion, so I guess I’ll sign up for another thousand days and keep working at this.
What I do observe is that I’m a bit more comfortable with my feelings, especially the uncomfortable ones, like fear and worry. If my spirit has strengthened at all from these daily efforts, it is because I have learned to hold space for unpleasant feelings long enough to try and understand their roots.
It’s not a pretty thing so see these shadowy parts of ourselves. It would be more comfortable to just shove them down into the background below the line of our awareness. But there’s a dire consequence when we do this. Those fears and feelings of which we are unaware start to drive our bus. And they usually drive us down roads we’d rather not spend time on - stressful streets, angry avenues, and freeways of frustration.
Take the time each day to strengthen your spirit. Take time to be still and know what’s going on inside. You don’t have to fix anything. You’re just fine as you are right now. But if you are interested in blossoming into a slightly better version of yourself tomorrow - trusting more, enjoying life more, and loving and living better - today’s work is to get a bit more honest and clear about what you are working with now and who you are today.
Give it a try!