Here is Why You Suck At Meditation

Meditation and I don’t get along.

The relationship has always been rocky, and I feel sometimes she hates me just as much as I hate her. The most I ever meditated for any regular amount of time was during the COVID lockdown when we didn’t have anything else to do and nowhere else to go besides my bedroom or garage, where I could sit for several minutes. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy meditation or relaxing. It’s just that I thought I wasn’t very good at it.

When you hear or see people meditating on TV or film, they are perfectly still in a quiet room with candles. I have three children, two dogs, and a wife. Whenever I light candles, my kids beg me to do it, and if I don’t, they complain about how rude I am for not asking them to do it.

If I want to sit on my floor, the dogs immediately come for scratches, petting, and licking my face. So, I’d like anyone to tell me where I can meditate like these people do because, apparently, my life is just too crazy for that.

Not all hope is lost, however. Master Gu of the Wudang Taoist Wellness Academy has an answer that actually worked for me.

While you can sit still and meditate if you have the time and place (looking at you, single people in your 20s with no children), you don’t have to. Anything can be meditation. Walking, biking, sweeping the floors, and even washing the dishes!

Washing the dishes is my personal favorite, and I touched on it last week in a different article. For Taoists, meditating isn’t about what you are DOING with your BODY. It’s about what you are NOT doing in your MIND. Clearing your thoughts of distractions and living purely in the moment is the key. In my belief, your body’s actions are secondary.

Be sure that whatever action you choose, you only focus on that action. Breathe slowly and let your belly fill with air. Now, perform the task at hand in full. Don’t stop. Don’t think about anything else. Tomorrow hasn’t happened, and yesterday is gone, so you can’t control it either. Instead, you can only manage this very moment.

Once I learned that anything could be meditation, I began to what actions during the day I could perform with mindfulness. As I stated above, doing the dishes came first. Picking up the living room was next. And finally, writing. Yes, writing is a form of meditation too. Writing allows me to relax, clear my mind, and focus solely on the topic at hand.

I read a mindfulness book by Thich Nhat Hanh where he described a practice we should all try. Hang a sign in front of your bed or wherever you see first. On the sign, write be mindful. When you're getting dressed, only think of getting dressed and when you're eating breakfast, only think about eating. Try to see how long you can do this for one complete day. It's hard than you think!

The world can be a busy place with many distractions. Social media, news, and even your friends and family members can be distracting. But meditating through out your day and keep you focused and ease your anxiety and tension.

So, it doesn’t matter if you’re reading a book, playing a video game, or taking a shower; you can meditate! You just need to find the option that works for you. Don’t judge your self a failure because you can’t sit still for an hour with your eyes closed without falling asleep.

Instead, do what comes naturally, but do it amazingly well.

That’s meditation.