Sometimes, I forget why I meditate. Then, when I finally do sit, it comes back all at once. Oh right, I do this for sanity. I do this to remember I’m alive. To remember that life is bigger than my narrow concerns, and that recognition is no dishonour to those concerns. If anything, it puts them in perspective, so I can better manage them.
Every day, I forget that I’m mostly swimming in the choppy surface waves of my mind, a set of preoccupations – and a way of relating to those preoccupations – that dictate so much about the course of my relationships, the things I find important, my urgencies and my denials. It all seems so all-encompassing from up there.
Meditation drops me into the broad oceanic sense of life just happening. There’s a kind of neutrality here that comes as a relief. I don’t have to prove to reality that I’m allowed to be here. Nobody does (although some of us do need to prove it to our institutions, to other countries, even to our neighbors).
There isn’t a human on the planet who can’t benefit from this kind of space and repose, however they get there. The urgency can settle, at least temporarily. Fewer thoughts in the moment = fewer problems in the moment. We breathe out, feel our feet on the ground, and maybe remember the blessing of being here in the first place.
This week, a guided meditation on first principles, with an extended version for die-hards.
Love to my community,
Jeff.
The next Do Nothing Project (DNP) live meditation is Sunday, August 2 at 8pm EDT. Link here. Replays are archived Monday mornings on Home Base and YouTube.
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31 Days of Practice (online): Starts August 1, 2026
and … Where Meditation Leads (in-person): August 13, 2026
I have two events coming up with New York Insight. The first – 31 Days of Practice – is part of their annual benefit. Donate, and every day in August receive a new guided meditation from a different teacher in your inbox. It’s a great way to sample different styles of teaching, and of course build-up momentum in your practice.
The second is an in-person evening event with me at their West 29th Street location, called “Where Meditation Leads.” We explore moving between the turbulent surface layer of mind and the deeper stream of life just happening. The kind of awareness that lives here is both ordinary and sacred, and available to anyone at any time. Expect guided meditation and discussion. More details here:
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