Eat The Meal: Practice Morsels

One of the biggest obstacles in meditation is overcomplicating it.

We often do the same thing with eating a meal at a restaurant — we lose sight of the simple purpose of just eating. Instead, the mind fills with worries: Will they show up on time? Is the service good? What should I order? Are the reviews positive? Is the atmosphere right?

The same distraction happens when we sit to meditate. We get lost in thoughts about doing it correctly, how long to sit, whether we’re progressing, or if the session feels “right.”

In this talk, I invite you to simply “eat the meal.” Using the example of samatha practice — mindfulness of breathing — can we let it be just that? Simply knowing the breath, moment by moment, without adding anything extra.

A short, practical teaching for returning to the essence of meditation

Transcript

Eat the meal. This goes along with the just doing practice one I've done, And go to a restaurant and sometimes lose sight of what the core purpose is of eating the meal, Doing the exact meditation we set out to do. Well, Whoever I'm going with show up on time. Will they like the place? Will we talk about the things we need to talk about? What kind of rating did this place get on Trustpilot or Yelp? Is the decor right? Will I get a good seat? Will I be able to be here on time and get out on time? What kind of ingredients are they using? Will the waiter provide good service? On and on and on, Looking at the menu. What should I order? What did I get last time? And so, All these other things that go into what some might say the experience of the whole thing, Sometimes water down or allow us to lose sight of the core intention, Core purpose of eating the meal. So, When we sit down to meditate, Can we just eat the meal? Like for Samatha practice, Mindfulness of breathing, Just knowing the breath simply. Can that be it? Can we do that?