Why You Don’t Need to Argue with Your Mind

Every time you complain about anything, it’s because you have a problem just sitting.

Try it. Seriously.

Just sit and see what comes up.

Someone left this comment on one of the lessons of my No Problem meditation course.

“The problem is not, not being able to just sit. The problem is the guilt tripping that has been conditioned into us/me that isn’t easy to stop in my head. Trying to convince me that I am not here to sit around, that I am not making any money while sitting around, that I am not helping anybody by just sitting around, that I am wasting my time just sitting around.”

This is such a common issue, and one that I have faced myself so many times.

When we try just sitting without doing anything, all kinds of stories show up in our heads. These stories try to get us to move our bodies in certain ways.

For example:

• If the story tells me meditation is a waste of time and I should be making money instead, I will move my body off the cushion and over to the computer (or wherever I think I’m going to get the money).
• If the story tells me I’m bad at meditation and I can’t do it, I will move my body over to the TV, where I won’t hear those voices of self-doubt.
• If the story tells me I can’t meditate while the upstairs neighbors are making so much noise, I will move my face into an expression of disgust, which will make it uncomfortable to breathe in a seated position, which will eventually get me off of the cushion as I prepare to fight my neighbors.

It’s all physical.

This is how you fight stories. With your body.

Don’t argue with them. No need to do that.

Look at how they affect you physically.

“Just Sitting” is the test of how well you can do that. If you can sit in the presence of your stories, you know they aren’t controlling you, no matter how much you might “believe them”.

I hope this inspires you to look closer at what you’re expecting to get out of meditation.