There’s an old saying, The greater the effort, the greater the glory.
We’ve been taught from an early age that we must work hard and apply great effort, in order to reach our desired aspirations and life goals.
School, sports, projects, careers (even relationships) — each require effort and hard work in order for us to be awarded, be winners, and be promoted.
If this was your early training, you’ve likely carried that work-hard mantra with you throughout your life.
How’s that working for you?
That mindset — the harder you “effort” the bigger your reward, doesn’t always hold true.
Sometimes, the harder you work, the more exhausted you are. The more exhausted you are, the more stressed you are, and the more compromised your overall results.
Enter mindfulness — the practice of non-doing, or effortless effort (a phrase coined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, author and creator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program).
Of all the concepts that I’ve taught in formal mindfulness training, the most slippery of slopes is the idea that non-doing, the cessation of effort, could possibly be productive, and render positive outcomes.
But, it does.
The practices of mindfulness; both formal and informal techniques (including meditation), when performed on a sustained basis, have the potential to ease stress, increase focus and dampen over-reaction.
These powerful inner tools, allow us to work smarter, not harder.
So ingrained is this idea of effort, that many students report to me that they work so hard at meditation, but they just can’t seem to relax.
Oxymoron? I think so.
One of the most important things to learn about meditation, is that the harder you work at it, the more effort you exert, the more you’ll experience frustration and distraction.
From that place, your judmental mind enters the scene to tell you that you are a bad meditator.
BTW, there’s no such thing as a bad meditator. But, it is a handy excuse you might use to quit, before you’ve actually understood the EASE of meditation.
When you simply show up for your self, with curiousity, patience and a willingness to meet each moment as it is (without needing to change it to suit your needs), you’re giving your self the ultimate gift of presence.
Eventually, the ability to be present, spills out from meditation, into your active life, allowing you to EASE into all situations (both mild and wild), with that same degree of curiosity, patience and non-judgment = ease.
If you’ve previously labeled yourself a bad meditator, you’re new to this world of mindfulness, or you want to further deepen your practice, I invite you to meditate with me…either via recorded audios on the PRACTICE PAGE of my site, or, IN PERSON, at Mani-FEST on 10/21 in San Mateo. For more info, read below: