2020 has already been quite a year. I don't know about you, but for me the theme has been "it's go time." The time to plan and think about the things that need changing in my life and in the world is over. Those repeating patterns I mean to address one day, they end now. It's time to act, which ironically means, time to return to the state of non-action, the state of Being because it is there where we find the source of our actions and direction. It's the difference between weakly tossing an arrow at a target and using a bow to pull it back before releasing it, straight and direct to the bullseye. It can be counter-intuitive to think of meditation as the key to effective action, so here’s all the nuanced mechanics of how that works. The urgency is palpable I know that cleaning up my own act will be of value others. That in itself is motivating. Especially now given the world right now. I can feel the state of the collective is tremoring with tension. That stress that has risen is a result of so many progressive changes that need to happen that aren’t happening. But in order for any of us to address those macro challenges, we have to address the micro first. Getting out of repeating patterns and thoughts of the changes we’ll make “one day,” is the best thing we can do for ourselves and the world. But getting out of our own way requires a change in consciousness. There’s a saying, “you can’t solve a problem from the state of consciousness that created it.” You also can’t make a change either. So much wasted time I hear all the time from people about how they don’t have time to meditate. But the truth is, you don’t have time not to. I understand though–when I was a beginning meditator I really struggled with staying consistent. Now that I’ve been doing this a while and had the privilege to witness the transformations of so many of my students, I see that without meditation, time spills out everywhere like water through a sieve. Without meditation, most people’s thoughts are the same thoughts they had the day before and most actions are the same repeated coping mechanisms to deal with the enormous amounts of stress we all have heaped upon us from modern life. Take note of something you may have had an idea to do, maybe it’s cleaning out a closet or starting a project. Then think about the amount of thoughts between having the initial idea and actually moving into action (if any action has even started). Meditation cuts down on all that in between noise and helps you move with ease from one calling to the next. The in-between times Make use of those small, random sections of time that usually involve looking at social media or some other distraction habit. I really, really wanted to get my house organized, and for the longest time, I kept telling myself I needed a full weekend to focus on it. Well, with three kids, full weekends are as realistic as gnomes and unicorns, so I started chipping away at it at odd times, when everyone seemed occupied with a game, or between dinner and putting the kids to bed. In far less time than I thought, our house was no longer dysfunctional and I couldn’t believe how long I lived with things that way. Turns out time is time, and there are vast stretches of it we don’t utilize out of habit. Mediation pulls us out of our habits and indoctrination to see things objectively, which will help wake you up to time that is otherwise flowing out the sieve. Stuck in the Potential This is something I have been guilty of many times in the past. I would think of something I’d like to act on, but the mere potential of it was enough to satiate me. I can only imagine the volumes upon volumes of books people will get to “someday” that are lost in this kind of purgatory, or lifestyle changes that are always in the wings. When you feel the ping of your intuition, act now. The relevance is time sensitive. Meditation puts us in touch with that intuition, so we know what the right action is at the right moment. Creativity is in direct proportion to how much you clear If you want to act or make changes and are feeling stuck in the mud, that is a symptom of stagnation. So attack the stagnation first. Start cleaning out the irrelevant, excess items in your house. Prune your calendar so you keep only the appointments that are a “yes!” This is a form of measured destruction which, according to the laws of nature, spurs on creativity. The energy suddenly available to you will be surprising. Space is the same as time, so if you feel you don’t have the time to act, make space. Meditation helps in detecting what is stagnating, it’s like it enlivens in you an irrelevancy meter that highlights whatever is ready for deletion. My students come from all different backgrounds and situations, but the one thing they seem to have in common is they’re motivated to come to learn from me when they finally want to break free of their patterns and make dramatic, lasting change. They may not know that’s why they’re there, but intuitively, they know that meditation speeds up evolution. And what motivates me is knowing that for every person I teach, they are bringing their heightened awareness to every interaction they have, every relationship, every moment of contact with another. This exponential effect is how meditation can change the world and why it’s not only the time to act but the time to Be.
When intuition calls, never hesitate.
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