Being Human: August 25 - 31

This is me in my best Buddha posture simply being at the beach.

When I tell people I'm a meditation teacher, I often get the response, "Oh, I could never meditate." When I dig a little deeper, that usually means something like, "I can't sit still.", "I can't disconnect.", or "I can't do nothing." Modern people are really good at doing, even doing lots of things at the same time, but many have forgotten how to simply be. Maybe it is because work consumes every available hour and demands even more. Home life is about the same with a never-ending to-do list, social media friends to keep up with, and news feeds to read. Weekends and vacations are the only time to catch up on all the fun we missed out on during the work week. I'm exhausted just thinking about this. Really, who has time to sit and do nothing. There's just no time left for any of this.

In the process of inviting Siri, Alexa, and AI into our personal lives, we've sacrificed an essential part of our humanity. In this light, meditation becomes a radical act. Starting the day unplugged dares to suggest connecting to our breath is more important than connecting to our smart phone. Our real value comes not from how many likes we have or exceeding expectations on our annual review but by simply being human without doing anything. Every time we take time out to sit in silence, we are making a radical statement that our presence is already enough.

Practice

Meditate as we've done week after week. And if you don't feel like meditating today, do something equally radical and uniquely human. Unplug. Play. Be present and give away your time. Be undeservedly kind. Create something just because you can. Commune with nature. Listen to your heart. Live.