Overcoming Laziness In Meditation

[Guest JazzySmurf]

Hi there,

I am sharing a passage from the text by His Holiness the Dalai Lama called How to See Yourself as You Really are on developing more motivation for meditation, advice that I found to be helpful. May you find benefit from it :-)

Laziness comes in many forms, all of which result in procrastination, putting off practice to another time. Sometimes laziness is a matter of being distracted from meditation by morally neutral activities, like sewing or considering how to drive from one place to another; this type of laziness can be especially pernicious because these thoughts and activities are not usually recognized as problems.

At other times, laziness manifests as distraction to thinking about nonvirtuous activities, such as an object of lust or how to pay an enemy back. Another type of laziness is the sense that you are inadequate to the task of meditation, feeling inferior and discouraged: "How could someone like me ever achieve this!" In this case you are failing to recognize the great potential of the human mind and the power of gradual training.

All of these forms of laziness involve being unenthusiastic about meditation. How can they be overcome? Contemplation of the advantages of attaining mental and physical flexibility will generate enthusiasm for meditation and counteract laziness. Once you have developed the meditative joy and bliss of mental and physical flexibility, you will be able to stay in meditation for as long as you want. At that time your mind will be completely trained so you can direct it to any virtuous activity; all dysfunctions of body and mind will have been cleared away.

Have a wonderful day :-)

Heather

[Guest AdrianRavensoul]

Very simple though very true! I am a Christian and found this helpful for my own meditations. Thank you much for sharing this gem!

[Guest Zenda]

Kia Ora Heather,

Thanks for posting this, procrastination can be a real curse for those thinking of meditating...

Another way for some to approach this...

1) There are 24 hours in the day!

2) 8 hours sleep should suffice for most people-This leaves 16 hours !

3) 8 to 10 hours work and travel time-This leaves 8 or 6 hours!

4) 3 to 4 hours leisure time-This leaves from 2 to 5 hours!

5) Where am I going to find the time to meditate for half an hour??? 2 to 5 hours=procrastination time

I would be a trillionare if I could find a way to bottle meditation or make it in pill form...

Metta Zenda

[Guest JazzySmurf]

Hi Zenda :-)

One does not need to look to a formal meditation practice (i.e., taking time out of our days to do a specific practice) as the starting point. Two components of a formal meditation practice -- strong motivation and strong exertion -- are available to everybody during any activity. Using them help foster a presence of mind, or mindfulness, that one can realize during each activity. When driving, then drive. When studying, then study. Through these, one can then transition to realize mindfulness as a continuous aspect of our experience via certain meditation practices (vipassana, metta, bodhichitta, etc) or others practices, if they so decide. :-)

Have a wonderful day.

Heather

[Guest Linus Thomas]

Additionally, meditation doesn't need to be an hour or more. I did a 21-day free 6-15 min meditation sessions with the Chopra Institute. They were helpful and weren't time consuming. I think we often view meditation as a "chore" rather than something that could be done as part of "leisure" time. TV and other forms of "instant gratification" type of things are somewhat "time suck" activities. This doesn't mean not to enjoy it but I think when it becomes our main form of leisure that it takes away from activities that could be more beneficial. All of it is a choice and we have to find the balance between the two.

For me, it has always been when I could bicycle long distances that I found my method or mechanism for meditation. And the more I ignored electronic devices (hard as a technical trainer for a software developer), the more I could meditate on my two-wheels.

[Guest Zenda]

Kia Ora Heather,

Thanks for pointing that out, it’s true meditation can be done any place, anytime… I guess when I think of meditation I think of two key ingredients for getting the most out of one’s practice, these are self ‘discipline’ and ‘motivation’ …once you have created a ‘habit’ , it becomes part of the norm…

For example, When I wake I have a cup of tea 'Green tea' then I meditate, after which I have breakfast, then if I've got time, I go for a jog through the bush before work...Then as my day starts to wind down I round it off with meditation...Meditation for me is part of the norm,I look forward to my practice...It's 'alway' a new experience...

However most people in the West find it hard to just sit and do what they perceive as ‘nothing’…They feel they’re ‘wasting’ time and they should be actively ‘doing’ things...And as Mia J mentioned in the “have you ever meditated” topic, some people become quite uncomfortable about what tends to arise within their minds…

Thich Nhat Hanh’s book on ‘Mindfulness verses for daily living’ “Present Moment Wonderful Moment” is good for those who don’t wish to sit still and meditate …

A couple of examples from his book… Waking Up “ Waking up this morning I smile, Twenty four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion” Getting Dressed “ Putting on these clothes I am grateful to those who made them and to the material from which they were made, I wish everyone could have enough to wear”

Happy Mindfulness

Metta Zenda

[Guest Jaques]

I recently came across this, and so very poignant............http://youtu.be/9l-YYqjhVi4