Originally Posted by
Beakon
"When it comes to zazen, to your practice, why are you holding yourself accountable? Just sit! As Tairin just said, "routine" is key. The more you do it, the easier it comes on those days that you don't want to do it.
I personally feel that zazen should never be a challenge. That we should be open and accepting of what zazen is, what it brings to us, and what it teaches us. There are times when it can be hard, but that is why we do it. =)
Just as an aside ... if you are finding it hard to be disciplined with your sitting, maybe try an be disciplined in other areas of your life (as you mentioned with sleeping and eating late) ... as this quality is interchangeable"
I am sitting down at the City Place Mall with my laptop. There needs to be cover letters written for several employers. I am going to start off warming up my writing by writing a reply. I woke up feeling nervous this morning, like "what is everyone going to think about this post?".
Before bed I was reading The Way of Tai Chi. My wife brought it home from work, where she is a palliative health care aide. A 53 year old dying man gave it to her so I could have it. I recalled the times that I listened to motivational talks about just "doing it". I sat down to read about thirty pages. My wife continually asked me "are you going to start meditating?". She was practicing her violin in the living room, so I had to meditate in the bedroom.
I came up with the idea to make a character building challenge for myself. You see in the beginning of my daily zazen practice I was good at getting thirty minutes a day in. What I've noticed about meditating close to bedtime is a) I'm vulnerable to falling asleep b) it feels very, very good. The wife is not happy about me keeping her awake. From having this daily practice, I realize that I like to start things, but I cannot handle simple things. Doing simple things is difficult, because it's difficult to motivate myself to do them.
To deconstruct daily zazen practice subskills are needed like sleep hygiene, time management, and stress management. I have been working on three, I find that they take devotion.
What Tairin has accomplished with his routine is somewhat similar to what I want to accomplish. Say that other meditations that look attractive cause me to feel inspired. I don't think I can do them well, even consistently. I have not developed enough self-discipline.
In the beginning, it was easy to practice for thirty minutes. I encountered challenges like skipping breakfasts, coming home late from work, helping with an insomniac wife, and her late night shifts. In the morning, from skipping my alarm, the karmic consequence would be hyper-focusing on what needs to be done immediately. I used to meditate fifteen minutes before leaving for work. In those siutations, zazen doesn't feel relaxing, it feels like I'm nervous and my gut feeling tells me someting is not right. As I understand more about zazen practice, it's okay to feel the negative emotions to learn how to recognize them and learn about how they feel. This morning when I practiced before leaving the apartment, my session felt the best it's been in a while. The only problem was that I skipped making oatmeal, then headed right out the door.
The book The Way of Tai Chi talks about how Tai Chi is an expression of moving through life. There are ways the universe is thrown off kilter, therefore becomes antagonistic. The central idea is trying to blend in with the universe, rather than trying to force it to bend to my will. I feel like my life is in disharmony, but zazen has taught me to see things as they are. I have faith that this phase in my life is impermanent. A women from the Employment Income Assistance office told me "this is a small part of your life you are going to make it through". I haven't forgotten what she told me, because her kindness stood out. The benefit of having a job is having a routine. I lost having a routine from being at home. I get overwhelmed by the amount of house work and office work. Practicing zazen helps me stay calm and focused in times of turbulence.