A few days ago, I was catching up with a colleague and he was generally expressing how busy life was and how there was so much going on in his brain. I had a simple solution:
Empty it out.
No, I wasn't advocating trepannig for him. But I hear this more and more: people are overwhelmed with thoughts, feelings, memories, and decisions to make. Each one of those is so fascinting to us that we get distracted from what they really are: just stuff.
It doesn't matter what the thought is, it's just a thought. An interruption. A blip of life itself. But then we hold onto it, squeeze it between our fingers until they ache, making it impossible for us to pick up anything new.
Life is like playing jacks: you toss up the rubber ball and gather up some jacks before it lands. The trick us to let go of the jacks so you can play again.
In a round about way, I'm talking about meditation.
A lot if us think about meditation the way a former president thought about broccoli.
Okay, that's not true: when I was younger, I thought only the coolest, strongest people were meditators, enduring boredom, discomfort, and I don't even know what for hours. (No one ever thinks that only the cool people are broccoli eaters).You had to sit in a particular position, you had to be unflappable, you had to be willing to let go of all your wants and desires. And this is a glamourized version! There's the other image of meditators: that they are spiritual goofballs, denying themselves life and enjoyment, and worst of all, they are Doing Nothing.
Some of these are old images, but they all boil down to one thing: meditation is not for me.
Well, that's not true.
You dont have to sit in an uncomfortable cushion or repeat a mantra you don't understand or even be a spiritual person. Were talking brain maintenance here. Like flossing.
There's so many types of meditation out there that you can find one that fits for you. And here's a meditation that you can do right now:
Just notice what you are doing right now: any sights, smells, sounds, in the here and now. Just sink into your surroundings.
Empty yourself out.
