Meditation
How is meditation connected to seeing our storylines more frequently and easily?
In meditation, we are taught that when we notice we are thinking, we can drop the thinking and come back to the breath. For most of us, it is our first experience with not following our thoughts wherever they lead us, willy nilly. It can be a revelation to see that we can decide not to follow them, at least in that moment.
When a person has done some meditating over time, it becomes more clear that our minds are constant storytellers, and that the tales are repetitive and often biased in particular directions. We can see that we have habitual patterns in the ways that we interpret and frame situations. There can be a loosening of the attachment to these stories, just by this constant seeing that “it’s just what the mind does” and not taking it quite as seriously.
“One of meditation’s great gifts was to help me distinguish between immediate experience and mental interpretations of that experience.”
John Welwood, Towards a Psychology of Awakening
Also, in meditating we strengthen the ability to turn away from the narrative and return to the present, by the repeated exercising of that ‘muscle’, over and over. Some compare it to the way weight-training works on the body – the mental strength to return to the present becomes stronger and stronger. In our day to day lives off of the meditation cushion, this ability will also surface and allow us to see our stories with more spaciousness.
Many people start to meditate but then stop, thinking “I just can’t do it – my mind won’t stop.” This reflects a misunderstanding of what will happen in meditation. For most people, the mind will seem just as busy as ever (if not more so). It’s always that busy, we’re usually just not looking! We start meditation is to see what is actually happening and to develop some intimacy with the contents and workings of our minds. Over time, we will also strengthen that mental muscle of returning to this moment.
***
If you’ve never meditated, it’s most helpful if you can get meditation instruction in person. That way, you’ll be able to ask questions and clear up any confusion. Many Buddhist groups, stress reduction clinics and other facilities offer meditation instruction, often for free. You can find local offerings by typing your city or town and the word ‘meditation’ into a search engine.
If it’s difficult to get instruction in person, you can watch video of a teacher giving instruction. An example of a good video of a teacher giving meditation instruction is at the website www.mipham.com, with beginner instruction from Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.
“In our ordinary daily lives, we are usually pre-occupied with trying to be a certain kind of person and having a certain kind of life. We seek something that is comfortable, secure and gratifying. We try so hard to craft our lives toward this end because we are quite aware that under the surface a more real existence is going on. Sensing the danger and choicelessness of this, our genuine life, we hope that another life, one of our own fabrication, will be easier and less demanding.
In meditation, however, the veneer of this false life is gradually put aside, and we come upon the fresh, unprecedented existence that was always with us. Meditation, then, can show us our true and genuine life, with its freedom, its abundant creativity, and its joy.”
Reginald Ray, in “Waiting. Waiting. For What?” in Shambhala Sun, May 2002
