Your Meditation Practice Is A Mirror For Your Life

In this talk, I go over how your meditation practice serves as a mirror for your everyday life. The sayings "wherever you go, there you are" or "how you do one thing is how you do everything.", apply to this concept. If you've noticed that you are feeling lazy or apathetic when attempting to sit for meditation, chances are there are certain unaddressed areas in your life where you are also being lazy (such as keeping a messy room or not putting in effort into a project).

Transcript

Hey, This is Ish and today I want to talk to you about how your life problems are reflected in your meditation and also vice versa. So there are two quotes I'm going to read. The first is, Wherever you go, There you are. And the second quote is, How you do one thing is how you do everything. So how this relates to this idea that I'm teaching now is that you'll typically notice how you do perform certain actions in one area in life is typically how you'll do that in another area. So you might have noticed in practical terms, You have, Let's just say you have a negative aunt or uncle that you bring out to vacation. And even though they're in a very nice location with beautiful views and they can't really complain, They tend to find reasons to complain. And likewise, You have people who are very positive and if you bring them to very negative areas, They still manage to bring that positivity and they aren't affected. So this is the concept of how you are essentially in all areas of life is reflected everywhere. And you can really see this in meditation. So for example, If you're trying to sit in your meditation and you're struggling to remain focused and perhaps you'll get in your cushion, You're like, Ah, I can do this. Well, This is a sign that maybe in your external life, When you're going about different tasks or duties, You tend to give up a lot easier or perhaps you feel a lot of frustration in your outer life. So you'll notice that pattern in your meditation. And also this frustration means that you are feeling a lack of control in your life. So frustration is you have the lack of power. And on the other side of the coin, If you take the extreme opposite where you feel very lazy on your meditation cushion, So you sit for your practice, But you're not able to push through, You're just like, Ah, Give up, I don't want to sit. Well, That probably means that you are being lazy in other areas in your life. So you tend to bring that energy in different aspects. So if you are noticing that currently in your meditation practice, You can look back and say, Okay, How's my room? Am I being, Neglecting my room or am I being lazy in other areas of my life? And you can use your meditation as a guide to see how you are appearing in all other areas. Or maybe on the other side, When you're meditating a lot, Let's just say you're a person that meditates for a couple hours a day, But you're using it for the wrong reasons. So you're meditating to avoid life in general. So you definitely rack up a lot of hours on your meditation cushion, But you are doing it to just not take on responsibilities of life and what we call spiritual bypassing where you're just ignoring your everyday responsibilities. So there's a huge difference between avoidance and solitude. So a lot of monks do take these meditation retreats where they meditate for the entire day. And there is a difference there because they're coming from a place of exploring their aloneness and solitude rather than avoiding everything else and using that meditation practice to shut themselves off from the world itself. So just note the type of meditation and the intention behind your meditation also affects your practice as well. And then if we also look in the flip side, So actually the good parts of the meditation practice, You'll notice that if you generally feel very calm in your meditation practice and you're able to sit and you feel energized or focused in your practice, Then that typically spills over in your daily life as well. Because in meditation, You develop the qualities of concentration and calm and focus and just enjoying being in your body and things around you. So eventually through practice, The goal is to actually bring those qualities in all areas in your life. So this is also why you'll notice that in meditation retreats, You do walking meditation or you might have menial tasks like raking the leaves or washing the dishes, But they are performed with a meditative quality. So you learn in those formal settings how to bring the same qualities that you develop in your meditation to other activities when you're walking around and you're in motion. And then we can also look at it from the other view where the quality of your life and the things in your daily life can also impact your meditation as well. So it works in both ways. So in this case, You might notice in your meditation that you're reattached to the thoughts that you have in your mind. So for example, Let's just say you are constantly thinking about different social interactions that you've had. Well, OK, That could be a sign that perhaps you are becoming a bit too needy and you're putting your energy out in the world to seek validation from other people rather than relying on your own self for happiness. So that could be a sign. So that's something you'll notice in your meditation. Or perhaps you are able to sit in your meditation, But you have this rigidity and you don't bring enough energy. You're similar to a stone Buddha. Well, That is lacking a lot of life force energy. And this could mean that you're bringing that type of energy in all areas in your life where you're not bringing that zeal or energy that is required and rather you're taking more of an apathetic point of view. So that's also something you can address and something you learn in your meditation practice and also in life as well. So you can think about, In that case, If you're operating out of that type of energy, See how you can bring vigor and strength in not only your meditation, But also in other activities in your life and also vice versa. So if you notice in your life you're being a bit lazy or not bringing that energy, Or perhaps the other way where you're bringing too much zeal and you're becoming a bit too attached to outcomes and you're becoming a bit too needy, You can then course correct. And the first way to fix that is through your meditation practice. And if you are meditating and you're noticing things that are undressed in your daily life, You can then use your life to fix your meditation settings. So it works hand in hand. It has a symbiotic relationship. So you'll notice these patterns as you meditate more of how your practice is reflected in your daily life and your daily life is reflected in your practice. So they both work hand in hand. So I hope this helps. Thank you. Thank you.

Reviews

I love this idea it's really useful to make this meditation to life comparison

Thank you for this thoughtful meditation. I will be more aware of the symbiotic relationship between my daily living and my meditation practice.