Sitting in stillness

I fail at meditation more often than I succeed. I do idle well. But doing nothing. That takes some practice.

For many months my meditation practice was an early morning activity. I would generally write my morning pages, then sit and focus on my breathing. Five minutes. Six. Ten. I think I made it to fifteen minutes daily.

The more outside concerns I let creep in to my day, the more difficult it was to focus on meditation. I began missing days. Both of breath work and stillness, as well as my morning pages. The past several months have been completely inconsistent – as evidenced by the frequency of my blog posts.

The outside world isn’t outside. It’s the world, and we are a part of it. It is the lotus blossom, and our job is to hold it in our hands. Each of us.

I’m reminded of a Saturday morning cartoon I used to watch: Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?” (now reimagined on Netflix).

Young detective Zack is sitting with a zen monk who is making tea. (This is from a memory of probably 20+ years ago, so it may be hazy). The monk is taking his time preparing tea, and Zack is being anxious. The monk tells Zack to meditate. He says there isn’t time. And the monk responds, “That is why you need it.”