Just roll with it
Sisyphus, meditation and life
Sisyphus sat at the bottom of the hill. Leaning on the boulder he’d become accustomed to pushing up the hill, he figured ‘to hell with it’, got up and pushed it back up.
Such was the curse of Hades1.
I sat meditating on my mat. My mind going through why I was justified in an argument I had two years ago. I figured ‘to hell with it’, let the thought go and returned to observing my breath.
Such is the curse of ego.
Many people start meditating, expecting to reach a state of bliss and soon discover it’s the mental equivalent of pushing a boulder uphill only to have it roll back down again and again and again.
Instead of a boulder, it’s your thoughts.
A colleague once shared with me they had tried meditating but found they couldn’t stop thinking, and gave up. Their mind was too busy for them to meditate. This means they missed the point!
The point of meditation is not to stop your thoughts. Trying to do that sends your ego into overdrive: you think more! If anything, when it comes to thought, the point of meditation is to accept your thoughts.
They’ll roll in, let them go. I don’t necessarily mean refocus on your breath or refix your attention, although both are valid in meditation practice. I mean, let thought run its course. Just observe what it does. Thoughts will disappear as quickly as they come.
When you can accept your thoughts, and observe them roll by during meditation, meditation starts to get interesting.
I’d just finished my morning coffee. I checked my email and found a client I really needed to win, had a last-minute change of mind. I figured ‘to hell with it’, picked up the phone and started looking for another client.
Such is the curse of life.
Every day is filled with challenges, every day is pushing boulders up a hill. Being able to let your thoughts roll by as you meditate, is practice for accepting life as it comes at you again and again and again.
Sam Harris puts it this way2:
“It’s only natural to view meditation practice as separate from the rest of your life. But this is a mistake. The truth is, there’s nothing happening in meditation, that can’t happen out in the world. All you have is your mind… There is no boundary between a formal session of meditation and the rest of life”
When you can accept life as it is, no matter what it throws at you, life starts feeling truly worthwhile. The inner peace synonymous with meditation starts to follow you everywhere.
So what are you waiting for? Hurry up and meditate.
Cover image: Unable to identify image owner (sorry!)
In Greek mythology, for cheating death Sisyphus was cursed by Hades to push a huge boulder up a steep hill, only for it to roll down every time he neared the top, for eternity. See: Sisyphus - Wikipedia.