"Powerful New Software Tool Uncovers Hot Untapped Niche Markets that Have Been Completely Overlooked by the Masses and Allows You To Swoop in and Absolutely Dominate these Niche Markets in Google!"
People sometimes think that meditation is a matter of “mastering” the mind, but I find a better metaphor to be “befriending” your mind. Your mind is like a co-worker you have to cooperate with each day in order to get anything done. Obviously you share interests and have aims in common, but it takes effort on your part to keep it on task as it prefers to wander off somewhere unless the work is especially interesting. The mind also does annoying things to distract you like singing bits of catchy songs over and over or criticizing you the way your parents used to. So you decide to set aside some time just to sit down together and get to know your co-worker, hoping to build a more productive relationship—that is, you meditate.
When you sit down and listen to it, at first the mind will blather on about all kinds of things, and if it senses you are worried or bothered about something it will not let go of the subject. Usually it eventually calms down and then you can enjoy sitting together, but other times when it is worked up it gets very tiresome and you wish it would shut up already. You realize that whatever it is that you hope to accomplish by sitting there listening to it, it is going to take some time. You wonder if it is worth the effort, and many people give up at that point. But you know you can never escape from this co-worker, so you decide to try a little harder. Instead of spending time together when it is convenient, you plan to get together on a regular basis and work at this relationship.
Maybe you seek out people who know more about how these things work, or read some books on how to do it right. They tell you that you cannot force the mind to shut up, so you start to relax more and listen to the mind with a kind of detached amusement and curiosity about what makes it tick. Inevitably there will be days when your time together is a struggle, but you discover that the times of struggle are teaching you something. As you grow more accepting of your co-worker you start to become friends and each of you is changed in the process. You begin to work together with a kind of ease that you did not think possible when you started out on this journey.
In the end you grow to love your friend and think you are a perfect match after all, even with all your co-worker’s quirks and idiosyncrasies. At that point work ceases to be work, because every day is a joy when you can spend it with such a wonderful friend as this.
Alan F. Zundel is a counselor, author, and teacher currently living in Eugene, Oregon. His talks are available to download for free at HeartAwake Center at www.heartawake.org.
Alan F. Zundel is a counselor, author, and teacher currently living in Eugene, Oregon. His talks are available to download for free at HeartAwake Center at 