The practice works, you’re just not following it

You’re exhausted.

You heard meditation might give you some peace. Your therapist nods frantically when you tell them you’re giving it a go.

The practice is to “let things be as they are, moment to moment.”

You try it but it “doesn’t work.” You’re still exhausted and conflicted! So you get up early.

This is pretty common. And it’s not just because the practice is hard: it’s because you’re not doing the practice.

Instead of practicing, you might think “What good will this do?” This is thinking about the practice.

Instead of practising, you might think “This will never work; it’s too simple.” This is doubt about the practice.

Maybe it actually “works” for a short while. You think “It worked just then! That’s enough.” This is complacency in the practice.

These are all thoughts and feelings about the practice. They can be part of the practice, if we include them in our sphere of letting things be, without getting hooked on their conclusions.

But if we throw our hands up at the first belief, we’re no longer practising. The race is over.

There are lots of personal reasons we avoid this kind of practice. It brings up emotions we’ve been pushing down. It’s demanding.

But there are cultural reasons too: we live in a belief-centric society. That means that we as a society think that changing beliefs is the best way to improve yourself. Whether in school or politics; belief reigns.

I think this is a mistake for many reasons, the biggest of which is that it is blind to transformations in perception. That could be a flash of insight in meditation or the slow cultivation of wisdom in relationships. These profound shifts come about through full-contact living, not the adoption of a belief.

Practice takes courage—literally, heart. To continue in spite of things, even when it doesn’t feel good, when I don’t get it, when I want to check Instagram. It takes faith that some good will come of it. It takes fidelity.

Belief-centric societies don’t care much for faith and fidelity. But they’re vital to our practice.

Simple practices can be transformative but there aren’t many people actually doing them.