Tush in chair…. thanks Glennon
June 8, 2022
Glennon Doyle, beloved author of “Untamed” and co-host of the podcast We Can Do Hard Things, is re-inspiring me to meditate.
I was first taught how to “sit” when I was in my 20s by Zen teacher and author Peter Matthiessen. He was amazing: stern, kind, wise, funny. I was a willing and grateful follower.
Over time, I’ve become a little loosey-goosey about meditating. I don’t necessarily sit ram-rod straight. I don’t seem to make it for the full 40 minutes. And at least once a year “life happens” and I get out of the groove of meditating completely.
Starting (or re-starting) a habit of meditating can seem daunting. Who has time to sit still? My mind won’t stop yaking at me. I’m WAY too busy. I drank too much caffeine. The dog, my kid, my partner, the guy next door mowing the lawn, the heat, the cold….. I’ve got tons ‘o reasons to keep speeding like a hamster.
Glennon reminds me how divine meditating can be. “There, in the deep,” she says in her book, “I could sense something circulating inside me. It was a Knowing.…whenever uncertainty rises, I sink. I sink beneath the swirling surf of words, fear, expectations, conditioning, and advice – and feel for the Knowing.”
But how? How to get to that sweet place of the Knowing?!!! The place where Big Brain isn’t trying to figure everything out, manage the universe? The place of listening?
Again, the brilliance of Glennon: take ten minutes.
“[I] shut myself in my closet, sat down on a towel, closed my eyes, and did nothing but breathe. At first, each ten-minute session felt ten hours long. I checked my phone every few moments, planned my grocery lists, and mentally redecorated my living room. The only things I seemed to “know” on that floor were that I was hungry and itchy and suddenly desperate to fold laundry and reorganize my pantry. I was an input junkie thrown into detox. I was tempted to quit every second, but I was stern with myself: Ten minutes a day is not too long to spend finding yourself, Glennon. For God’s sake, you spend eighty minutes a day finding your keys.”
I am now, most days, sitting my tush in a chair for a very manageable ten minutes… and maybe getting a tad of the Knowing as a reward.
Thanks Glennon.
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