“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky.

Conscious breathing is my anchor.”

― Thich Nhat Hanh

I’ve been writing this blog for almost 8 years now. In that time, my approach to Zen and to meditation in general has changed drastically. I’ve come to understand that the sole purpose of these writings should be to get you to go meditate.

People today have a strange approach towards real life action. We will do anything to avoid it. We’ll read about how to do something to procrastinate from actually doing it! This is a trap; it keeps us so overloaded with information about how to live that we feel paralyzed from actually getting out there and living.

Meditation is as simple as sitting cross-legged with your posture straight, closing your eyes, and focusing on your breath. In one, out two. In three, out four. Go to 10 and repeat. There is nothing else. You’ll lose your spot. You’ll trail off into snowballs of thoughts, good or bad. The key is to always return to the breath. Let the breath be your anchor.

Pretty easy for something so transformative. You’ll soon find that it is not as easy as it seems. We take our self-conscious minds for granted. We think we can get by without ever reflecting. We think we should optimize for speed rather than reliability. Meditation teaches you just what little control you have over yourself. Realizing this is the first step. After we make peace with it, we can work to continue sitting and regaining control over the mind.

Meditation should come first, studying second. Not everyone can have a real-life Zen teacher and so teachers often appear to us in the form of written texts. This is the role I try to assume. Don’t be shy to explore books about Zen. Read them but not if they subtract from the time you have to actually practice. This is so simple yet so crucial. Readings only help us understand how to approach meditation. They guide us to the water. It is our job to actually drink the water and internalize the teaching by learning mindfulness ourselves.

That’s the real point— mindfulness cannot be transmitted. You are not given it; you already have it and your meditation practice merely helps you uncover it and connect with it. The more consistently you practice, the more mindfulness you uncover. You brush off the dust of everyday life and see a more vibrant world. Just go meditate. No more excuses!

A 240-page collection of my writings is available here.

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