A Short Meditation On The Perfection Of Effort

What time do you get up to meditate? Maybe not 5am, but I do remember, maybe 25 years ago, a teacher saying to me, “the decision to meditate happens the night before, when you set your alarm thirty minutes early to get up and sit.”
Our role in the world as mindful lawyers is to reduce suffering as much as we can and do that by meeting and overcoming and helping others to meet and overcome the obstacles. Join me in this short meditation as we focus our intention on the perfection of effort.

Transcript

Thinking at a posture that is supportive.

And I just want to say if you have the impulse right now to hop off the call,

Just consider that.

You may have to.

It's all good.

But if you have the energy or can summon the energy to stay for the next 10 minutes and sit,

Do that.

And just settling in,

Finding your seat or your feet on the floor if you're standing.

Taking the attention to the breath.

If the breath is not supportive to the sounds in your environment.

Giving the mind a rest.

Giving the heart a rest from all its engagement and everything that feels like it has to be done.

And then maybe getting curious about what is it that draws you to sit,

To meditate.

In my tradition,

We usually think of it as one of two things,

Either the peace of the present moment or the investigation of what is present in this moment.

And for you,

That may not be what motivates.

So whatever is motivating you right now,

Whatever is calling you or supporting you in your practice right now,

See if you can turn towards that with some real gladness.

Okay.

Maybe adding to your practice the power of your mind,

The power of your mind,

The power of your mind,

The power of your mind,

Maybe adding to your practice the posture of turning the corners of the mouth slightly upwards.

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Enjoyful effort.

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And maybe bookmarking that sensation,

That feeling so you can return to it later.

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