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A Better Way to Meditate

Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session we're going to talk about the subtle aggression of self-improvement. I'd like to start by sharing a poem by Bob Sharples. He says: Don't meditate to fix yourself, to improve yourself, to redeem yourself; rather do it as an act of love, a deep, warm friendship to yourself. In this way there is no longer any need for the subtle aggression of self-improvement, for the endless guilt of not doing enough...

it offers a possibility of an end to the ceaseless round of trying so hard that wraps so many people's lives in a knot. Instead, there is now meditation as an act of love, how endlessly delightful and encouraging. So notice how that poem feels to you. For me, there's something very resonant in it. I've often seen my meditation practice as a subtle aggression of self-improvement as Bob puts it.

This feeling of needing to do this in order to become a better version of myself. But anytime that I can step out of that intention and instead make the intention an active love, of caring for myself, of appreciating myself, of showing up for myself in the best way that I can in this moment with all of my foibles and all of my wonder, then the meditation practice transforms. It becomes easier. It feels more impactful. And that quality of peace that I'm often after by trying to improve comes when I let go of not trying to become some better version of myself.

So I offer that invitation to you as well. It's very common in our culture to be caught up in that subtle aggression of self-improvement, constantly needing to grow and to be better. Maybe there's a place for that in different areas of your life, but at least in your meditation practice, let that be a space where you let some of that go and instead make it an act of love. Thank you for your practice. I'll talk to you in the meditation.

Take care.

Cory Muscara

4.7

A Better Way to Meditate

Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:

Duration

Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session we're going to talk about the subtle aggression of self-improvement. I'd like to start by sharing a poem by Bob Sharples. He says: Don't meditate to fix yourself, to improve yourself, to redeem yourself; rather do it as an act of love, a deep, warm friendship to yourself. In this way there is no longer any need for the subtle aggression of self-improvement, for the endless guilt of not doing enough...

it offers a possibility of an end to the ceaseless round of trying so hard that wraps so many people's lives in a knot. Instead, there is now meditation as an act of love, how endlessly delightful and encouraging. So notice how that poem feels to you. For me, there's something very resonant in it. I've often seen my meditation practice as a subtle aggression of self-improvement as Bob puts it.

This feeling of needing to do this in order to become a better version of myself. But anytime that I can step out of that intention and instead make the intention an active love, of caring for myself, of appreciating myself, of showing up for myself in the best way that I can in this moment with all of my foibles and all of my wonder, then the meditation practice transforms. It becomes easier. It feels more impactful. And that quality of peace that I'm often after by trying to improve comes when I let go of not trying to become some better version of myself.

So I offer that invitation to you as well. It's very common in our culture to be caught up in that subtle aggression of self-improvement, constantly needing to grow and to be better. Maybe there's a place for that in different areas of your life, but at least in your meditation practice, let that be a space where you let some of that go and instead make it an act of love. Thank you for your practice. I'll talk to you in the meditation.

Take care.

Cory Muscara

Cory Muscara

4.7

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Cory Muscara

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