A quieter practice. Rather than working on a belief, you stop pushing at a problem and listen for what surfaces.
Listen to the Meditation
About This Practice
Sometimes we lose the thread of what our experiences mean. We are stuck on a problem, or unsure what the next step is, or waiting on an idea that will not come.
The instinct in that situation is to push harder. Think about it more. Turn it over again. But effort is not always what the problem is short of, and thinking harder about something you are already circling tends to deepen the groove rather than get you out of it.
This practice does the opposite. You ask a question and then stop working. You sit, you breathe, and you leave room for something to arrive rather than going out to fetch it.
What surfaces is usually not mystical. It is the connection your mind had already made and had no quiet in which to hand you. Insight tends to arrive in the gaps, in the shower or on a walk, which is a well-observed pattern rather than a coincidence.
Most of us almost never sit and listen. This is time set aside to do exactly that.
Micro Practice: Three Breaths
When you are stuck, take three breaths.
- Breathe and settle on the breath itself.
- Breathe and ask yourself: what do I need to know right now?
- Breathe and listen, without reaching for an answer.