Duration of today’s sit: 25 minutes
I woke this morning with a vision of peaceful productivity for the day. And I began my meditation very shortly after getting up, with a positive attitude and desire to sit.
My staying was relatively continuous, especially in contrast to the past few sits. Early on, there were lots of creative thoughts. I’m very excited by some new business ideas, and my mind ran with those for a while. I used the feeling body as a way to ground, and that helped.
At one point my phone rang, and I felt a strong ego response. There were two components, in parallel. One was worry that someone (family, a client) needed to talk to me; the other was anticipation that someone (maybe even a sexy woman) wanted to talk to me. But even then worry was in the mix because I was afraid I was missing an opportunity by not answering the phone. This reaction was instantaneous, as well as my awareness of it, and it dissipated quickly when the phone stopped ringing.
What’s so interesting is that my concentration increased quite a bit immediately following that. I think bringing the ego mind so clearly into the light of consciousness had a calming effect.
The final note I want to make is that this was my longest sit since I began these 100 days, and it felt quite short. I was not anticipating the bells when they came.
Even in just 9 days I feel more skillful in terms of preparing for the sit, choosing an attitude and intention, responding to agitation and drowsiness, and observing the mind.
100 Days of Peace 