“Our life is an endless journey: the practice of meditation allows us to experience all the textures of the roadway, which is what the journey is all about.” – Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

It seems rather easy, doesn’t it?

Sitting alone on our meditation pillow with only our thoughts to accompany us. We view it as a catalyst to deepened awareness, a means to discover our place within the vastness of this world.

It’s intended to liberate; to help us disentangle ego from our current ‘view.’ But, sit for longer than 10 minutes on that pillow ~ and, we begin to feel an overwhelming urge to run.

Enlightenment isn’t easy. There’s no light bulb that goes off, no ‘earth shattering kaboom.’ It’s a slow and gradual, transformative process ~ and one, in which we must move at our very own pace.

Why, even Prince Siddhartha sat in meditation for 49 days before he reached enlightenment.

As for me? I struggle to make it past 20 minutes…

So, why is it so darned difficult?

According to Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the idea of meditation is ‘really about changing our perception of the world.’

And, that can be a terrifying experience – to relinquish our ‘truths.’ We feel we may be changed by the experience, perhaps even fearful. We equate the act of letting go with the suffering of loss.

None of us thinks, “Maybe I’m going to be totally different. Maybe my process of engaging the world will be so different I won’t even recognize myself.”

Perhaps a silly analogy, but I like to think of meditation as the literal act of opening a door – as, we never quite know waits for us on the other side.

Behind one door, there could exist a spa-like oasis…

And, on the other?

The absolute disaster my daughter refers to as her ‘thinking zone.’

sigh…note to clean my daughter’s bedroom.

But, as shocking as the latter may seem ~ you can’t just force your way in, to simply toss everything out. As difficult as it may be to see through the piles of unfolded laundry…the stacks of papers strewn about the floor…the half-eaten bean burrito…

oh, what a mess….

We must trust that the clutter can never diminish the value of the treasure waiting to be found.

As beloved Buddhist nun Pema Chodron would say,

“Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That’s the ground, that’s what we study, that’s what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.”

Sitting alone on our meditation pillow? Easy.

Developing an unconditional friendship with ourselves and the world around us? Not so easy.

There is a famous Zen saying, about change – that it is much like taking a flower, and holding it next to a rock.

Hopefully, the flower will take root and flourish. But that, my dears, must happen in its own time. Our minds are very much like the rock, and awareness…is the most beautiful flower.

The question then becomes…

How long do you wait for the flower to grow?