Stop Trying

There's a difference between trying to do nothing and stopping trying. The first still takes effort. The second is what we'll experiment with here. For ten minutes, you have permission to stop trying to meditate. Let whatever default states arise just arise. Whatever you're experiencing, let it be. You're sitting on the riverbank of experience, watching it flow. Recorded live with the Healthy Minds Program.

Transcript

And today we're going to practice letting go a little bit, Which can be pretty challenging sometimes. There's so much to grab onto. So much to do, There's so much to get done, There's so much to worry about, But sometimes we really kind of need to let go. One of the ways I like to frame this, And maybe I say this at the risk of bringing my own ideology to the table a little bit, But a lot of what we do, And I use that word intentionally, Do in the modern world, Is kind of rooted in this intellectual framework that we have about the world, Right? If you think about it, You're currently looking at a pattern of light on a screen. And even those things, Pattern, Light, Screen, Those are just words and concepts that we have. If you really look at the me right now, What you're seeing is, You know, Certain colors and textures. You're seeing shapes and shadows. And we, In our minds, One of our superpowers is that we're able to interpolate all this information into a framework to understand the world. We have this rational, Discursive mind. We have this faculty of language. And really, It's something that sets us apart. In reality, We also have this more felt sense, This sense of awareness, This sense of being that perhaps we share more with the animals. This sense of presence with the sense experience and connection with our biological selves, Our bodies. And sometimes it's important to understand this distinction in the context of your mindfulness practice that A loop that I've been caught in a number of times, And will continue to be caught in, Is framing and thinking about my mindfulness practice with only this rational, Logical, Discursive mind. Which is that here are the techniques, And here is my understanding of those techniques, And here's how I frame them, And here's how I'm going to apply them, And here's how they're going to make me better. Etc, Etc. And so sometimes it can help to really balance that with a sense of letting go. Bye. Trying to spend. Your time not trying. And I think it's a really important distinction between not doing anything or doing nothing and stopping trying to do anything. So if that was a tongue twister, Let's try it again. Trying to do nothing has a sense of effort, That you're putting effort to do nothing, Putting effort into relaxing, Putting effort into letting go. That's different. From stopping trying to do anything. Or we can even shorten that and we can just say, Stop trying. So that's what we're going to do for the next 10 minutes. We're just going to stop trying and see how that feels and see if we can reconnect with just being in the moment without a sense of trying to get somewhere or improve something or do something or fix something. Let's see if we can just stop trying. So find a comfortable position, Anything that feels safe and OK for you. If you need to lie down, I recommend doing so in a way that isn't so comfortable that you might fall asleep. If you're sitting upright, I recommend finding a kind of awakeness in a heightened position but also a relaxed state. And when you're ready, You can close your eyes if you prefer. I'm going to keep mine open so I can see you. And just take a moment to stop trying to do anything. The only exception might be holding yourself up. Impostor. But other than that. Just stop trying. To do anything. And maybe the first thing you can stop trying to do. Is stop trying to meditate. It may have felt like you came here with a certain intention. To do a thing. Do a special thing. But maybe just stop trying. Let's take 10 minutes here to just let everything be as it is. Now if you're noticing certain default states of mind arise, Maybe you're experience with a certain practice and you find yourself naturally you know, Focusing on your breath or doing some other practice. That's fine. There's no need to try to change that. You might notice yourself bored or tired or caught up in thought. We're just letting all of that happen. You don't need to expend any effort to change anything or fix anything about what you're experiencing. Just be as you are. And see what happens. And if you find yourself wondering, What's the point? Why would we sit here? And do nothing at all. I encourage you to just bring a sense of openness and curiosity, Like we're kind of running an experiment here. So it's just 10 minutes and we've only got 7 minutes to go here. Just 7 minutes left in this experiment to stop trying and see what that feels like. So you can reserve your judgment until after. And really devote yourself fully. To not. Do anything. To not try to do anything. To not put any kind of effort into this moment. We spend so much of our lives pouring effort into this and that. And it's very important. It's a very important part of our lives. I would contend that it's just as important every now and then to take a few minutes to stop efforting. And to just let go. And let things be. And be okay in accepting. With whatever you might be experiencing in this moment, Even if what you're experiencing is. Resistance or anger or frustration or anxiety or depression or if what you're experiencing is joy and bliss or if what you're experiencing is neutrality and boredom tiredness this whole spectrum of human experience, Whatever you might be facing in this moment, Just let it be as it is and see what happens. There might be a sense of release here. There might be a sense of acknowledgment and acceptance. There might be nothing special about this experience. It's all okay. Whatever you notice. There's a sort of power in taking a moment. To let nature run its course. Drop the fight. Stop. Wrestling with everything that's happening. Just acknowledge what is and be here. To witness it. In all the exploration I've done of these practices, One of my favorite all-time metaphors is this idea that your experience is like a flowing river, And all the implications of that metaphor are true, That it's kind of pointless to try to stand in the river and put your hands up and see if you can stop it. But at the same time, It has the power to take you away. And what we're doing here is we're just sitting up on the riverbank, We're not fighting the river, We're not swimming, We're not rowing. We're not trying to dive in. We're just letting it flow as it does. Letting your experience flow like the part of nature that it is. This mysterious element of nature that gives you the power to see and to feel and to hear and to experience. Just let that flow for another few minutes now. And now let's take this final minute. To put a slight little bit of effort in and bring forward a sense of gratitude, Of thankfulness for whatever it is you've experienced in the past nine minutes, Good or bad, Strong or weak, Neutral, Subtle, Whatever it might be, Just grateful for this ability to experience it. Ultimately, We don't really know where this conscious experience is coming from. Yet, At the same time, We know that it definitely can be taken away. And so let's ground ourselves in that. Insight. And feel a sense of thankfulness for this ability we've been afforded to experience whatever's happening. No matter what it is. See if you can get out of your own way. Pour a little gratitude into your river. Let that gratitude mix in with the water. And let it flow on by. See what happens. Okay, Nice work everybody. I'm glad to be here practicing with you. Take your time. Transitioning out.