develop a meditation habit

I am making it to the meditation class I started 2-3 times a month. I’d like to be more consistent as the regularity of the class is a big help in keeping the lessons and mindset going in my daily life. At best, I manage to sneak away to meditate outside of class for 30 minutes. At worst, I go all week without meditating, so I have a ways to go before I’ve made this a daily practice.

I think the favorite thing I’ve learned so far involves some meditations that help curb judging others. Our minds are automatic classifiers. Sometimes I can’t seem to make mine stop from making the most trivial of judgments about people. Thinking of everyone as a buddha just short circuits my judging mind and I love that. It has also been helpful that the meditation series we are doing right now is all about developing confidence and overcoming obstacles – a great theme for novice meditators.

I went to my first meditation class about 3 weeks ago, and made it to my second class this past week. I’ve enjoyed both classes quite a bit. The content is interesting (though a bit more Buddhism than I knew I was going to get), and the practice has been rewarding. I have managed to fit in meditation 2-3 times a week outside of class, so, so far this seems like a good start. I like the teacher who leads the class, and it turns out I met him a decade ago in a totally different context. The class itself seems deeply radical, 6-7 people with nothing in common other than a desire to improve our minds, gathered in a totally counter-cultural context.

Of all the goals listed on 43 Things this might be the one I currently most hope to accomplish. I think I have a chance!