Inner Peace Takes Practice… Lots of Practice

Almost anything worthwhile takes time and practice.

This includes relationships, athletic or academic endeavors, and oh, you know, lasting inner peace. 

A talented runner can show up any day of the week and race well. With that being said, they’re not running near their potential if they are not putting in the necessary work beind the scenes in preparation.

Similar to karma, doing the right thing, over and over again, even when boring or tedious, compounds and builds.

I run quite a bit. Not nearly as much as others, but more than your average workout guy. I’m trying to buy into the long-term game with a belief that it will take years of consistency to reach my best. As humans, we find it hard to conceptualize far down the line and usually prefer instant gratification. That 35 minute easy run where I make myself slow down so I can recover better before the next workout is not always easy and sometimes harder to do correctly than an actual workout.

I was listening to a podcast with beloved meditation teacher Jospeph Goldstein and he made the point that cultivating peace within us takes time.

It is worth noting that the Buddha said “The highest happiness is peace.”

Yes, there are different levels of happiness.

Eating my favorite ice cream with loads of sprinkles may bring me temporary happiness, but this is fleeting and often only brings on more craving.

The highest happiness involves a peace and contentness in almost any situation.

This takes a lot of practice. 

This is not some faulty optimism that anyone can fake. Nor is happiness appropriate in certain situations, like when a family member dies.

Peace can go beyond happiness. From what I can gather, peace contains a real inner wisdom from years of practice.

Contrary to what some might think, the quieter our minds, the happier we are.

How can we do this? By paying attention and making the day count. 

Formal meditation practice and consistent mindfulness practice in day-to-day activities have been shown from plenty of research studies to have multiple benefits, mentally and physically.

But it’s not easy to do. Anyone who tells you that it is easy probably does it wrong.

It can be intimidating to think of the long game, but ironically and thankfully, the mindfulness spiel is primarily focused on now, the present. 

The Path is the Goal. 

Having an aim/goal is important, but there is value in recognizing we only have one day at a time. What we do each day will compound over time.

Whether I ultimately run the time I want in a race is not as important as the day in, day out efforts.

I’ve got so much work to do on my mindfulness path, my career path, my relationships path, my athletic path, and more. Thankfully, I can start right now.

 

Distractions on Distractions

Short post here, but I’ve been thinking about how distracted we all are most of the time. The following is a big generalization of the Western world, primarily us USA lot. I am not as sure about the East, although I’m sure distractions pervade their culture as well. Most of us are distracted, and we know it if we take a step back and think about it. 

If you have ever tried meditation, you hopefully became somewhat aware of how much your mind tends to wander in thought. The mind will go from one thought to the next and we don’t even realize what just happened.

This is not a bad thing in and of itself-it can be quite good for creativity and reasoning-but too much being lost in thought certainly can be harmful over time and separates us from what is going on at any given moment within us and right in front of us.

I think most of us it find it hard to simply sit still and not react habitually. We tend to reach for our phone, pull out the laptop, turn on the TV, partly because it’s SO EASY. Letting things play out without reacting and looking for a distraction is HARD. 

The East contains a lot of ancient wisdom that I am trying to learn with time. One consistent theme is meditation and a collectivist culture. In the West, we tend to pride ourselves on our individualistic approach and autonomy. I would guess that both have their pros and cons, but personally I think I long for that collectivist aspect more and more.

Distractions will happen, but I think learning to come back to the present is incredibly valuable. With constant distractions our relationships suffer, our own mental well-being suffers, and we forget about our body. 

I am not trying to be a hypocrite here and I don’t want to sound like a lecturer. I get distracted all the time and I am ready to get back to consistent meditation practice and more mindful attention throughout the day. This practice is rather challenging, but I think I’ve realized it’s very useful and perhaps necessary for a sane society.

I recently learned that warrior means “one who is brave.” I love this. Time to be a warrior for the greater good of self and others.