Sharon’s book, “Real Happiness”, says concentration “steadies and focuses our attention so that we can let go of distractions”. Further on, she describes it succinctly as “moderation and conscious deployment”, while saying that distraction is “a disconcerting sense of fragmentation”.
Logically, her instructions to gain concentration are simple: “a continual letting go of what is nonessential or distracting” … simply noting distractions as “not breath”.
And then, her measure of successful meditation is “not in terms of what is happening to us but how we relate to what is happening.”
Sounds simple enough… so why is it so hard?
Knowing that I have chosen to blog my experiences during this 28-Day Challenge, there are added complications – distractions, really.
Equanimity has always been my main intention in sitting. So concentration and the balance it brings should be top-of-mind. Except, rather than concentrating since Day 1, I find myself wondering about how I can relate my experiences in a blog – disconcertingly fragmented.
I suspect that ego is the driver here. Not that I’ve anywhere near the experience to be able to offer anything approaching, for lack of a better word, wisdom. But neither do I want to screw this up.
Today, three days into the Challenge and it being my turn in our team blog, I was questioning my intentions – not in sitting the Challenge, but in blogging.
What I think I arrived at is an answer I give every time we have a joy practice in our weekly sangha sit. To the question “What brings you joy?”, I answer that I very much enjoy the shared experiences that are related in our discussion – and that these experiences show I’m not alone in my challenges.
So, going forward, I will attempt to follow more closely Sharon’s advice of letting go what is nonessential, relate to what is happening, and then trying to describe that.
Or, in the words of Lennon and McCartney, to
Shine until tomorrow
…There will be an answer
< http://www.thebeatles.com/song/let-it-be>
With mettā,
Rod.