It is not harder

Friday: 30 minutes sitting

I made a minor error in a bit of work I did yesterday, which the client now known as Grumpy blew slightly out of proportion—or maybe it was just that thing where nuance does not come across well via email. But of course as an editor I already hate making mistakes, so I started my day harried and irritated. I don’t know if it was just that or also other things (I do have a ton on my plate), but I knew it was going to be really hard to settle down and meditate today.

But then I had this thought: Sitting still for 30 minutes does not get harder because of the state of my mind. It’s not expected or possible for my focus be at its best every day. All I have to do is sit down and follow the simple instructions, and the outcome is out of my hands. So it’s not possible for meditating to be “harder” based on my mindset.

That is a capital-I Insight that I definitely read in the book but had not really connected with my own life until now.