We all have our moments when we do stupid things.
Let me tell you a few of my own such moments. And yes, this video is still about meditation!
Hi, this is Supreet. I upload new videos every Sunday.
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I recently listened to a podcast in which Sam Harris, the author of many books
and creator of the app "Waking Up"
which is a meditation app, he said something very insightful in that podcast
He said "It's not that I don't suffer in all the ordinary ways that I suffered with before I learned to meditate.
The half life of suffering, the half life of something like
anger or anxiety or embarrassment or fear or
whatever the negative mind state is
that half life is cut way, way down. So what he means is that these negative emotions
don't last as long. He continues on with these profound words. "When you think of the difference between
being angry for 10 seconds and
letting it go and being angry for an hour,
it's an enormous difference,
because in that hour, you can get up to doing all kinds of life deranging things on
the basis of your anger and feel good about doing those things because you damn well should be doing those things because you're pissed
Just shortening the time of these negative states is an enormous benefit.
Meditation is a great tool for that." I couldn't agree with him more.
Let me share with you some personal stories to illustrate this.
One time I was going to get together with some friends at a restaurant.
I had offered to pick one of my
friends from her home at six and then from there we were going to drive together to meet all the other
friends at the restaurant at 6:30. So I got ready ahead of time around five o'clock
And yes, that is possible women CAN get ready ahead of time!
So I got ready around 5:00 and I didn't have to leave home until 5:30. So I started working on the computer and
Then I lost all track of time.
At 6:05 my friend called me and she said "Are you on the way?"
I looked at the time
and all I could say was "Crap! Crap! Crap!"
I apologized to her and I asked her to drive straight to the restaurant herself so that we are not both late.
During my drive I was very upset at myself for not keeping my commitment to pick up my friend and for showing up late to the restaurant.
I hate being late. So in this kind of a situation
The old me as in the non-meditating me, which technically is the "younger" me...
would keep on playing this scenario in my head on loop
throughout the whole drive and analyze the situation from all possible angles, and I did do that
but I was able to stop myself.
I maybe did that for about two minutes or three minutes. I was able to stop and say
"What is done is done.
Forgive yourself for your mistake and move on. Don't ruin your present
which is the driving time and your future which was going to be having a good time at the restaurant with my friends
So don't ruin your present and future because of a mistake that you made in the past
And yes, that mistake was made five minutes ago or half an hour ago, but
that is still the past and I was continuing to live in the past and suffer because of it.
So I was able to pull myself out of that state and stop playing that scenario in my head on loop.
So what I did instead was play some music in my car and enjoy the music and then I
decided that I'm going to have a great time with my friends in the restaurant
and I'm not going to let this mistake ruin my entire evening.
Here's another story where I messed up.
I drove to my yoga class and
only when I parked in the parking lot did I realize that I forgot the one thing
that was a must-bring to the yoga class -my yoga mat - at home.
So in the absence of my yoga mat, I wasn't able to go to my yoga class and instead I just
decided to do the next thing on my list of errands and
again, I was able to
stop myself from
feeling bad and cursing myself and
just move on to the next thing that I was going to do after my yoga class.
I saved the stupidest story for the last. I have recently switched from a diesel vehicle to a gasoline vehicle
Guess what happened when I went to fill up my vehicle with fuel for the first time?
Yes, I put diesel in my gasoline vehicle
Thankfully, it was a very tiny tiny amount and did no damage
because I realized my mistake early enough
It's just that I had been driving my vehicle - my diesel vehicle - for seven years and out of habit
my hand just went and grabbed the diesel hose to put fuel in my car.
In all these and many other
situations, the common theme is that I felt negative emotions like anger at myself
anxiety, fear, embarrassment.
But I did not ruminate in those negative emotions for an hour or two
like I normally would, before I started meditating.
Instead, I stayed in these negative emotions for five minutes or less.
This kind of self-awareness, to be able to notice when I am in a loop of
useless negative thoughts, to be able to snap out of that loop and come back to the present, and
most importantly, to forgive myself and move on, is a beautiful and direct effect of
meditation.
Because meditation has trained me to observe my thoughts and to bring my attend back to the present,
when I get engulfed by thoughts
That training, which  happens on the cushion,
prepares you for life off the cushion. The goal of meditation is not to create some temporary feelings of inner
peace. It is to prepare you for life, and its ups and downs.
So it's not that my negative emotions have disappeared because of meditation.
They just don't last as long. This is true not only for the silly things I do but also
arguments with loved ones, everyday parenting challenges and even the biggest
catastrophes of life. The duration of all negative emotions is
reduced. I lost my dad last year. I was very close to him.
I am still very surprised by how quickly I was able to accept his passing and
move on with my life.
Meditation did reduce the half-life of my grief.
Okay, enough of my stories and my stupidities. Now I want to hear from you
Have you also felt that meditation has reduced the time of your negative emotions?
What other benefits have you experienced from meditation? Write it down in the comments below.
I wish you a very happy new year.
