No More Struggle - Everything doesn’t have to be a struggle. I know that, and I still find myself struggling; mostly with work and finances, and in other areas of my life too. I just went through a long period of lower back pain and then 5 days of vertigo. Ugh. I struggled to get well, keep working, and not get too discouraged.
How can meditation help?
Pema Chodron in her book “When Things Fall Apart” suggests that we use a very basic meditation tactic when it comes to struggling which is to simply look directly at it and call it “thinking” and then focus on our breath. She says, 'Again and again, we return to pristine awareness free from concepts."*
Her rationale for this simple meditation tactic is that during meditation practice we stop fighting with ourselves, our circumstances, emotions, and our moods. She encourages her readers to look at struggling and the chaos in their lives with a nonjudgmental attitude. Can't you feel a greater measure of peace in those words?
Her suggestion on how to stop struggling is one of four methods of working with chaos. I’ve been practicing all four methods in a row lately when I have felt unsettled and have found it to be extremely helpful. I will share more later.
~ Rod
*Pema Chodron - "When Things Fall Apart" page 120
