Let’s explore why we don’t meditate twice a day. Some of us do, but many of us don’t meditate when we should. People come home after a long, hard day at work, finish the day, and lie in bed without meditating. There is simply ‘no time’ for meditation. But why don’t we find the time? There is so much evidence why meditation is good for you. If you were to visit some of the healthiest people on the planet, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t believe in or practice meditation. So if so many people expound the benefits of meditation, why don’t we meditate?
There can be many, many reasons why we don’t meditate; but I think I can boil it down to two really specific things that keep us from meditating. I was exposed to meditation when I was 19 years old. He was studying psychology as an undergraduate and exploring the work of Herbert Benson at Harvard. Herbert Benson actually researched the physiological benefits of meditation. I started to meditate immediately, but there were gaps, interruptions in my meditation. Why? Although I was very impressed with Dr. Benson’s work, I was 19 years old and things like blood pressure and medical benefits weren’t really an issue for me at the time. Dr. Benson talked a lot about the physiological effects that meditation has on your body. I was 19 years old and quite healthy. I still wasn’t worried about my blood pressure or the medical benefits of meditation because I didn’t feel any health problems at the time. I enjoyed the meditation; I enjoyed relaxing and feeling very calm. Sometimes days, even weeks, would pass without me meditating. Why? This is actually the number one reason many of us don’t meditate. We really need a good reason to do something. We need a reason to meditate. If we are going to spend half an hour a day doing something, we need to know that what we are doing is actually changing us or increasing our overall happiness. Our lives are busy and our time is valuable, so we don’t want to ‘waste’ it doing something that we’re not sure is beneficial. We may think “yes, this makes me feel good and relaxed, but it doesn’t really change me or increase my overall happiness.” What changed for me is that many years later I met people who I felt were very deep people, very healthy, very mature emotionally and spiritually. What I learned about them, in general, was that they meditated. They attested to meditation, practiced meditation, and encouraged me to meditate. Because I really love growth, once I really understood how important meditation was to my own personal growth, I started meditating regularly. Once I started meditating regularly, I saw the change within me. I began to change, to change radically, and the people around me also noticed it.
So the first thing that stops us from meditating is that we really need a reason to meditate. As humans, we oscillate between two poles. At one extreme is immediate gratification. “I’m tired, it’s been a long day and I’m going to have a few beers to relax.” Or “When I go to Vegas I always have a great time, even though I come back exhausted. I’m sure it feels great while I’m there, so I go.” So the first thing we do is look for something pleasant. We want to feel good. Meditation can address this because once you start meditating regularly, you will start to feel good. However, meditation needs time to work. You have to get attached to it before you start to really feel its profound effects. You’d better have a few beers or go to Vegas, but it takes time.
So the second aspect that affects our behavior is our goals. As a general profession, surgeons earn more money than any other profession. But they have to go to university for four years and they are doing very well. Then they have to go to medical school for another four years and they do very well. Then they go on to do a residency for five to seven years, sometimes working 100 hours a week. So why would they do this? They do it because of their goals. They realize that in the end they will be working in a very lucrative profession and will have a very secure job. So, in addition to the immediate effects of mediation, we also need a deep and sincere reason why we are going to meditate day after day, week after week, year after year. For me this reason came from learning from others; from people who taught me that meditation truly is the number one change agent on the planet. If you want to grow, if you want to wake up and have a beautiful life, then meditation is the key factor for it. But you have to believe it deep down, because just like surgeons, going through medical school can be tough at times; meditation can be difficult at times. It is not a bad experience, but sometimes we are too tired, too busy to take the time to meditate. Until we get to a point where meditation really is something we’re involved in and believe will radically change our lives for the better, we’re probably not going to meditate regularly. There are too many things out there that are getting our attention. Telling us to come do this, come to do that, this is more important. I can absolutely guarantee you that meditation is really the most important thing you can do in your life to create a beautiful, important and wonderful life. But until you believe this, other things will get in your way and distract you. What you can do is find someone who can really motivate you to meditate. I would love to be that person for you, but I also know that I can’t be everything to everyone. Some of us are interested in research; we want to see the facts. If that’s you, then there are plenty of research articles, on my website and even in my podcasts, that explain how beneficial meditation is for you. Over the years, I have seen many hardcore practitioners drastically change their ways of meditation after attending a retreat with my partner and myself. That is why retreats are very helpful in this regard. Or maybe you can find a local group near your home to meditate with others. Sometimes it feels a lot like an exercise class; we are more inspired to attend regularly if there are others there to meditate with us.
So there are actually two main reasons why we don’t meditate. One is that at first it may not give us enough pleasure to hold our attention. My answer to that is to be patient, it will bring you pleasure if you hold on. It’s similar to exercise, at first we don’t realize how good exercise makes us feel until we start doing it regularly and then our bodies really crave that exercise. Your mind reacts the same way. As you meditate regularly, your mind will also yearn for those meditative states. It will become the highlight of your day.
The second thing that often stops us from meditating is that we don’t really think it’s good for us. So if you want to meditate, make sure you are connected with someone or something that drives you deep into the need to meditate, meditation is really good for you. Keep listening to my online podcasts, meditate regularly, find someone or something that inspires you to continue meditating, and you will find over time that you feel the effects of meditation. That person, that story, that connection that makes you realize the importance of meditation will also make you realize that meditation is a key part of your life.