Sir Peter, a biology lecturer at the local school, was one of the most knowledgeable subject experts in his town. But more than his knowledge, he was famous for his focus. It was a common sight at school to see Peter studying while eating, or walking. It was as if he existed for biology. Students looked up to him, some colleagues envied him, all because of his focus, until one fateful day.

One day, right after the lunch break, students were waiting for Sir Peter to demonstrate a frog’s dissection to the class. Sir Peter came rushing to the class, with his usual heavy bag. “Students, today we will see the dissection of a frog,” said Sir Peter while laying his tools and opening the specimen box. But to everyone’s surprise, the specimen box was empty. “How can a dead frog escape?” said Sir Peter to himself with nervous laughter.

Suddenly, Sir Peter reached for his bag and to check his lunchbox instead. And his fear came true, his lunch was left untouched. On this observation, Sir Peter puked while students sat confused. What was happening? Was the lunch stale?

Only poor sir Peter knew, as he was lost in reading during lunchtime, he had accidentally eaten the frog instead of the lunch.

Do you know a Sir Peter in your life?

More is Less

Often, people try to do a lot of things to feel fulfilled, unaware that to live fully is instead an act of balance. Take anything to its extreme, then be it the great skill of focus, and you will soon regret it. In a way, being all about productivity can prove to be the greatest distraction from living itself. A life spent entangled in obligations and busyness not only numbs one down to the music of nature but also detaches one from the self.

People forget things like keys, wallets, or IDs here and there. Even you might have faced it sometimes, but if it happens frequently then take it as an alarm. An alarm to wake up from the numbing busyness. Wake up to the awareness of the present.

Meditate.

Meditation is a way to observe your internal state. It will not change your life suddenly, but it will make you more aware of yourself, and enable you to see how out of control your mind is. And this acknowledgment is the first step to change.

The Eternal Storm

We saw earlier how breathing can immediately change our state, especially with Nirvana breathing to calm down. But is there a permanent fix?

No. The mind will always rush to the past and the future, thinking of dreams and disappointments. To live in peace requires you to constantly balance yourself in the present. And meditation is the way.

In a chase to feel alive, we fill our lives with exciting things, like hobbies, movies, books, friends, and so on, but if done blindly, it does not take long for our excitements to become our burdens. Our state becomes like someone in the water, who throws their arms around in a panic to stay afloat, but this only drowns them further. But how can meditation help?

Breathing Silence

Famous author and historian, Yuval Noah Harari calls expecting esoteric experiences from meditation a sin. And this is the reason we did not start with meditation in Level 1 itself. Expectations have spoiled the meaning of meditation, with fake gurus and conmen morphing its meaning to serve their agenda over the ages. It is time to leave it all behind.

Meditation is surrender. A surrender that keeps a swimmer afloat simply by lying down in the water. If you’re caught in a storm, then to meditate is to step into the eye of the storm, the calm that is always present amid all the noise. There is no rush for anything, just being here in the moment. But surrender to what?

Surrender to self. No resistance, no escape. Just be here, now.

This is partly the reason why meditation is tough for many people. We find it easier to surrender to external things, like a guru, a ruler, or a God, but fail to surrender to self. In fact, we are masters of escaping ourselves, looking for numbing addictions and noisy excitements, anything that can keep us away from ourselves. The problem is that the more we run from ourselves, the tougher it gets to surrender. In the words of inventor and philosopher Blaise Pascal, “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

And yes, this is it. Avoid your complexity bias to look for tough meditation styles. That will just lead you into the traps of people trying to squeeze money out of you. Meditation is simply being aware of the moment, not doing anything else. A realization that you are not merely your actions or thoughts. Here, you are neither concentrating, nor acting, nor contemplating, simply being, one with self.

We will explore more on meditation soon, but it is time for the mission first.