Letting Go of Seriousness

David creates an atmosphere of playfulness and acceptance. Too often we get stuck in seriousness and lose our sense of joy.

Transcript

Hey Meditator,

This is David with Grounded Mind and welcome to this meditation called Letting Go of Seriousness.

.

.

Seriously.

In too many meditations and meditation practices,

Things tend to be so stiff and serious all the time,

Which can be useful when we're motivated and have a goal in mind,

But can also be stifling to our meditation practice and can bring up a sense of need for perfection and self-judgment.

And as we allow ourselves to let go of some seriousness today in this meditation and hopefully in general in life,

We can find that wellspring of joy that wants to be tapped while we're meditating.

So you can go ahead and take a nice deep breath as you begin to close your eyes.

And whether you're an experienced meditator or beginning meditator makes no difference.

You're an experienced human being.

Nice big sigh out.

And I'm going to start our meditation with a joke.

What did the Buddhist monk say when he didn't know the answer to a question?

He said,

Ummmmm.

Allow your shoulders to drop.

If you notice any tension in your muscles,

Say hello to that place in your body.

And what I'd like you to do is just bring your awareness right behind your eyes into the center of your head.

And take a moment to reflect on one place or one space in your life that you've been taking really seriously,

But that hasn't been shifting or changing in the way that you've wanted it to or needed it to or expected it to.

It might be a relationship,

It might be part of your career space,

It might have to do with your personal growth.

And almost as if you were to take a look at this place in your life on the screen in front of you in your mind's eye as a succession of images.

And maybe it's been something you've been trying to solve,

But all you keep coming up with is,

Ummmmm.

We all have a few of these places in our lives.

And as the Buddhist monk Pema Chajron would say,

Nothing goes away until it teaches us what we need to know.

And nothing goes away if we try to hold it in too much seriousness with a sense of needing it to be perfect.

So right now in this meditation space I invite you to let go of any energy you've been holding onto of seriousness or perfection around fixing or changing this space in your life.

There's somewhere in your life where you've been judging yourself too much.

Your expectations have been too high or not in line with what you need or who you are.

Frustration and anger tend to be the first cousins of seriousness,

So you might experience it as some kind of frustration.

And when we don't resolve a frustration or anger it tends to turn into judgment towards ourselves or another person.

And we all have defaults.

Some of us we always turn it on ourselves and others always turn it on someone else.

But if you look closely neither of those directions are true.

It's not someone's fault.

Well,

It's probably your fault.

I'm tickling your serious button.

But whatever's been stuck sitting on this space for you in your life you can almost imagine it start to drain off.

Feel it start to drain off.

Humor is the grease that allows it to drain off and seriousness is the glue that keeps it where it is.

I went to go see the Dalai Lama speak once and he had a stadium of 50,

000 people and he would just joke and joke and there was this amazing joy and laughter that just permeated through the audience even though his English wasn't very good.

He radiated a sense of joy.

There's a type of seriousness that is related to earnestness that puts us on our path and keeps us conscious and focused.

It's not the type we're talking about today or looking at.

It's the type that comes with a sense of perfection and control and unhappiness.

Behind some serious people you'll find a sense of unhappiness.

And to find your enlightenment is to find your light and to be light.

In this moment can you let yourself be light?

Can you forgive yourself for anywhere you've been taking things too seriously or if you've been too serious and too hard on yourself?

True meditation is when we are gentle with ourselves.

Like a feather landing without any resistance.

When we find ourselves angry,

Frustrated or serious it might be because we're working through something.

But if we don't recognize that then we begin to be stuck,

Unhappy or resentful towards others or ourselves.

And you can feel free to be all those things for as long as you like.

Squeeze them and hug them.

Hug your resentfulness.

Love your stuckness.

Go on a date with your seriousness.

And then when you're done you can start to let them go.

You might feel as though a weight comes off your shoulders.

You might sense a lightness coming into your body.

You might notice that you can give yourself a little bit more leeway.

A little bit more room to feel the way you feel without judgment.

And perhaps you can give others room to feel how they feel without judgment.

To be who they are without judgment.

And to approach the world with a little bit less seriousness.

A little bit more joy and amusement.

And the next time someone asks you a question you don't know the answer to you can just say,

Ummmmm and see if you can have just being playful.

If you don't enjoy your meditation,

And if you don't enjoy yourself during meditation,

You're unlikely to continue into a deep long-term practice.

Don't allow your meditation to become a job.

Let it be a space where you get to explore who you are.

Be playful and come to new levels of awareness.

And I'll finish with a short story here as we come to the end of our meditation.

There was a Hollywood agent who had the Dalai Lama over his house to stay for an evening.

And he spent weeks preparing and learning to prepare yak tea.

And at 5 a.

M.

He walked into the Dalai Lama's room with the yak tea,

And the Dalai Lama was brushing his teeth.

And the Dalai Lama said,

Is that yak tea I smell?

And the agent said,

Yeah,

I made it for you.

And the Dalai Lama said,

Oh,

That is why I left Tibet.

Take a nice deep breath into your body with a sense of acceptance and contentment.

And know that we're not just here to achieve goals in our meditations.

We can't approach our inner selves the way we approach the material world by always having a goal and needing to accomplish.

Sometimes we just need to accept and be aware.

And not take ourselves too seriously.

So you can let go of anything you've been looking at or reflecting on.

I thank yourself for taking the time to sit,

And I thank you for taking the time to sit with me.

I wish you the best in your meditation practice going forward.

Take care of yourself,

And I'll see you soon.

Reviews

I feel fortunate to have found your meditation. I have this thing that I've been stuck on for sometime and it allowed me to come closer to the real issue then ever before. It allowed me to contact that part of me that is so worried about this thing that I am consumed by. Laughter and lightness feel wrong somehow, deep down no matter what I do and I felt it was directly connected. Now I know it is. I think I can be lighter already. I will come back to listen to this regularly. Thank you. Namaste. 🌹

Wonderful and fun meditation as always!!! Thank you!!

Great! It made me realize how much I do enjoy my meditation practices as I did let go a lot of seriousness! Thx for this smiling moment 😊🙏

Thank you for helping us remember that humor can bring love and joy in our lives!!

I am definitely taking my seeking of joy and peace too seriously! Thank you!🙏

I love the lightness in your meditations. It make me smile and be grounded. 🙏❤️Thank you for your gift.

A different style of meditation and I liked it. Good advice to not take yourself or your meditation practice too seriously.

I absolutely LOVE your meditations. They are my go to meditation. I liked the part about the Yak tea! When the Dahlai Lama joked "That's why I left Tibet." It could be taken like, I left because I hate Yak Tea", or "I left to come here to taste your homemade Yak Tea" lol I listened and thought, "ummmmmm lol"

thank you david, really needed to spend some time with my seriousness. still took it pretty seriously lol but was trying to accept it!!!

Thank you so much for helping me to let go of my heavy seriousness🙏🏼🌸

Every time I meditate with David I leave with a sense of relief, with confidence and enlightenment. This particular meditation resonates with me even more because I have struggle with perfectionism for long time and I was approaching my meditation practice in the same way. All I can say is that I thank you and that I wish you a unserious life … seriously.

Loved the jokes and ‘the lesson’! which fits quite well with lesson 3 of MBSR!
Thank you!
🌷

Love love loved this thanks for making me laugh and chat the same time.

🙉🦋 Weall need to lighten up… Nobody models this better than David! 🙏👏
🥰🔆💛🎁🦄🌈🎉✨‼️

Very nourishing. Words of wisdom and a sweet, gentle voice. Just what I needed. Thanks! 🌈🙏😊

Really lovely, I have been stuck recently and far too serious 🙃

I love this meditation. What a great reminder to not take life so seriously.

So loved this and so so very true regarding taking life far too seriously…Thank you David looking forward to taking one of your courses on here soon 🙏🫶💞

Just what I needed David. You had me giggling and smiling. I enjoy your guidance, thank you 😊🙏

Hahaha thank you David! I learned about the psychology of seriousness yesterday and wanted to see if there was a meditation on here that was related. I’m glad I found this one! I feel lighter and more accepting of myself and others 🫶