Don't Overcomplicate Your Practice
It’s incredibly easy to overcomplicate things.
This is especially true when dealing with traditions such as meditation, where we draw on thousands of years of history from dozens of major lineages.
The Pali Canon, widely considered the oldest surviving compendium of the Buddha’s teachings, is a whopping 2,708,706 words long!
No wonder we feel the need to complicate things.
This immense volume of information can be overwhelming when we first start on the path. Even after reading dozens of books, things can still seem confusing.
The good news is that beneath this seeming complexity, the fundamentals of practice are incredibly straightforward.
The backbone of all forms of meditation can be boiled down to one simple skill.
This simple skill is the ability to reconnect to this moment again and again.
While it may seem trivial, this is the pathway to ultimate liberation.
At its most basic, the entire path of liberation can be summarized in a few sentences:
Notice each moment just as it is without resistance.
Keep coming back to the moment, again and again, as many times as possible.
Repeat until awakening.
These instructions might seem overly simplistic, but this is the path’s essence. All the other, more esoteric aspects stand on the foundation of this simple practice.
If you focus your intentions on mastering the simple process of noticing this moment, you will reap tremendous benefits.
The most powerful thing about reframing our practice this way is that it becomes something that can indeed be done at any time.
No matter where you are, waking up to this moment is possible.
Let’s try it right here and now.
Just pause reading for a few seconds and notice what shows up for you.
Can you feel your body, your breath? What is going on in the environment around you?
That simple moment was a tiny unit of practice.
The other secret here is that even when we undertake a more extended practice - such as a 30-minute meditation - that practice is ultimately just a collection of many smaller moments.
If you can commit to returning to this repeatedly throughout your day, that alone will transform the quality of your attention.
You’ll spend less time worrying about the future and less time ruminating on the past.
You’ll be able to appreciate what is truly happening right now. Even the simplest things take on a new depth when we genuinely pay attention to them.
This simple, repeated process will cause you to change your relationship to all aspects of your life.
Don’t let overcomplication cause you to miss out on the fundamental liberation of just being here for this moment.
And this moment, too.
The moment of connection is the junction where it all comes together.
If we can learn to be here as we are, without extra expectations, everything else can fall into place.
Please give it a try this week. See how many times you can remember to return and be here now.
I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results.
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