Letting Go of Expectation

When we chase after pleasant experiences in our meditation, we're often met with frustration. It's in letting go of expectation, allowing the mind to be free that we discover a sense of ease. So to begin with, when we're first learning meditation, it's really normal to just want the mind to be quiet, just to want the thoughts to stop. But for most of us we discover quite quickly that having that thought creates a sort of tension in the mind. We're thinking about the thinking rather than simply allowing the mind to be at ease, rather than allowing the thoughts to slow down. And as we continue to meditate, every now and again we might have a meditation where just feels particularly nice, maybe the body feels particularly relaxed, maybe the mind's a bit quiet. Maybe you feel a sense of joy or love, whatever it might be. But there's something about it that feels a little bit different. So next time, when we come to meditate, we start to sort of chase after that feeling again. But in chasing after it, we're projecting onto the meditation what we want it to be. We're essentially creating more noise and more tension. Rather than giving the body and the mind the space to simply unfold in a natural way as it did that last time. We're trying to create a particular feeling, a certain state of mind. So if ever you catch yourself, chasing after a particular result, just seeing that, noting it, letting it go, and just allowing the body and mind to unfold. So just take a moment, make sure you're sitting comfortably back up bright, eyes open, and when you're ready, just taking some nice, big, deep breaths breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And with the next out breath, as you close the eyes, just allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm. Just bringing the attention into the body, becoming more aware the weight of the body and the different points of contact. And at the same time, just beginning to notice the different sounds around you. And as you bring the attention back to the body now, just taking a moment to notice how the body feels right now. Not assuming who feels any particular way, being interested, noticing how the body feels and then starting at the top of the head just gently scanning down all the way down to the toes. Now beginning to shift the attention to the breath, noticing where in the body you feel that movement most clearly. And noticing a particular rhythm of breathing right now. And as you continue to follow the breath, just beginning to count the breaths as they pass if you find that helpful. Knowing it's all to kind of come and go, and just remembering the moment you realize the mind's being distracted, just letting go of that and gently bringing the attention back to the breath again....