In many parts of North America, February 2 is known as Groundhog Day, a day when a furry little critter is pulled out of its hole to somehow determine whether spring is coming sooner or later.
In our lives of busyness, it’s easy to feel like we are also in some type of time-loop. We wake up, check email, shower, go to work, go home, walk the dogs, catch up on Facebook, watch TV, go to bed. Repeat, ad nauseum.
That’s where this practice can be so liberating. We can concentrate on one thing – this breath, in this moment. Sharon says, “Concentration lets us put on the brakes and spend time just being with what is, rather than numbing out or spinning away into excess stimulation.”
And later, she says, “If you have to let go of distractions and begin again thousands of times, fine. That’s not a roadblock to the practice – that is the practice. That’s life: starting over, one breath at a time.”
An interview with the director of Groundhog Day, Harold Ramis, had this insight:
Ramis said that, for him, the key to Groundhog Day is learning to have the insight, courage and energy to make changes when you come to those moments when “you are about to make that same-old, same-old mistake again. We face those changes every day, large and small, every single day. If you change one little thing, one little behavior, then everything might change.”
And that’s the opportunity we have in this practice. As Sharon so aptly explains:
The moment you realize you’ve been distracted is the magic moment. It’s a chance to be really different, to try a new response – rather than tell yourself you’re weak or undisciplined, or give up in frustration, simply let go and begin again. … This act of beginning again is the essential art of the meditation practice.
So as I’m about to sit down to practice to start this second day of the meditation challenge, I’ll welcome the many opportunities I’ll have to begin again, and return to my breath. Starting over, one breath at a time.
— Andrea G