Something to chew on:

I think it was back in my Edinburgh days, during a hectic time at work, when I first flicked to the app store and downloaded a meditation app on my phone.

Meditation was becoming popular and I thought it might help me find more peace & calm.

I’d spend ten minutes each morning listening to the remarkably soothing voice of a Tibetan Buddhist monk walking me through fields of hay and guiding me between clouds.

It started off well. 

But as the months went on, I lost interest.

The last time I meditated?

I couldn’t tell you.  It’s been that long.

And I’ll wager that this isn’t an uncommon story.

I’m guesstimating here, but by my reckoning about one third of people who decide they want to start meditating can’t even lie still on their bed for more than a couple of minutes before a stream of thoughts starts to rush through their head, and they get all twitchy and wriggly. 

So they stop.  They give up before they even get going.

Another third start meditating and keep going for a while.  Maybe a few weeks or months.  But it's patchy, and it’s difficult to notice any results.  Even results they do see are minor league and it’s impossible to know whether it was the meditation which helped, or if it was just the natural ebb and flow of life.

And so they, too, give up.

The remaining third or so – the meditation maestros – stick with it.  They get into the habit and maybe see some results.

That’s all well and good.

But anyone who’s tried meditation may have fallen into a trap.

A trap which says that peace, wellbeing and calm are the result of something you DO.

But they’re not.

What I’ve come to see is that peace, wellbeing and calm are your natural state.  They’re simply who you are.

They’re flowing through you right now, just like the blood pumping round your body.  You don’t have to crank the meditation handle to find them.

And to my mind, thinking that there’s something “to do” to access who you already are is a problem.

Especially if the very act of doing it – of meditating – starts to get in the way of seeing this.

Now, before the meditation maestros start getting all uppity (which I doubt they will, being tranquil and peaceful types), let me say this:

If meditation works for you then more power you.

I’m more interested in when meditation doesn’t work and in those who are still searching for something that will work.  Maybe even those who think that not “doing meditation” in some way implies that their own peace, wellbeing and calm are further out of reach.

But that simply isn’t true.

And if trying to meditate actually makes you stressed as you get more and more frustrated about how you’re not getting less stressed…

Or you kick yourself for not sticking with your 10 minutes…

Or your meditation has become another going-through-the-motions box ticking exercise…

Then hopefully this email is good news.

You certainly don’t need to meditate to access peace, wellbeing and calm.

Because that peace, wellbeing and calm are who you are already.

That’s my two pennies’ worth for today.

– Tom