In the last month, many of us may have found ourselves questioning the state of the world. If you have watched news reports from the devastation in Gaza or the hateful violence perpetrated in the United States following it, you may have felt less than certain about the goodness of humanity and your role in it.
One of the things that I have been incredibly grateful for over the last month was that I had opportunities to teach and meditate in community. It gave me a way to contribute and receive the gifts of fellow meditators. Despite this experience, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I had some doubtful thoughts along the way.
These included questions like these: is meditation really what we should be doing when the world has so many challenges? How can people even relax in such hard times? Is it even right to try to relax?
Though I’ve taken some time with these thoughts, I don’t know that I have definitive answers. Even so, here are three thoughts that have helped me stick with my practice and rely on it as a support in these troubled times.
1. Meditation Is Ideal for Giving Big Questions the Time and Space They Deserve.
“How can one meditate in troubled times?” That’s a big question. Of course, lawyers tend to love big questions. As a teacher and student of meditation, however, I have learned to treat them with a healthy amount of skepticism. After all, asking a big question often carries with it an urge for an immediate (and satisfying) answer. Law school and law practice train us to think we have to answer every question quickly and do so well.
If you pay attention, however, life shows us that time and curiosity may point us closer to the right direction. This is in part because big questions often don’t have just one right answer. Though law practice can force us to overlook this as we search for the “best” result for clients, there is usually more than one way to solve a problem. In fact, sometimes when we open our minds up, we may even see the problem itself differently.
And how can you open your mind up? Meditation is one way. This is not a trick. Once you let go of the idea that meditation is about clearing your mind, you realize that meditation may be the perfect thing to do when thoughts are rolling around in your head. Even if you don’t get answers right away, you may get some rest or find some peace. And that’s a win.
2. Mindfulness Can Help You Check for Doubt.
Of all people, lawyers should know that not all questions are really seeking information. In many cases, questions that start with the phrase “how can” are truly expressions of doubt.
Doubt is a normal part of mindfulness practice. The Buddha identified it as one of the major impediments to meditation and living a good life. When life is hard or the world presents challenges, our minds often generate doubts about ourselves and our efforts. Practice can teach us, though, that doubts aren’t always based on truth.
Instead, I have experienced that doubts are often a mental manifestation of fear. When we are presented with challenging subjects and memories, fear is bound to arise. When we see the doubting questions as fear, we may learn how to take care of the fear instead of following the directions of the doubt.
If the state of the world is hurting your motivation to meditate, be compassionate with yourself but check for doubt too. It’s human to be alarmed about what is happening in the world and to question the meaning in what we do. But acting unconsciously based on doubt often leads way from meaning and goodness rather than back to it.
3. Meditation Is Resting Instead of Giving Up.
Meditation can be particularly hard on challenging days because it is sometimes described as “doing nothing.” When things in the world feel wrong, the idea of doing nothing can seem immoral. Couple this with the often misunderstood concept of “acceptance” and you can make yourself feel like a monster for taking a few minutes to breathe.
But meditating for a few minutes isn’t doing nothing in an absolute sense, is it? At most, it is doing nothing for a few minutes out of your day. My point here, of course, is that resting and giving up aren’t the same thing.
Sure, there are times when people might use meditation to bliss out and avoid the problems of the world. But that’s not the only way to practice. I don’t practice meditation to check out or give up. I practice it to rest, steady myself, allow my mind to settle, and fortify my heart precisely so I can engage better and more skillfully in the world.
In this way, meditating is more about seeing clearly the possibility for personal agency rather than doing nothing. Yes, the practice done right calls for clarity about the state of affairs, including the darkest parts. It also builds the essential ingredients that need to exist for humans to be of help to the world and our communities.
Conclusion
The reality is that meditation may be counterintuitive when our emotions are high and questions, rather than answers, pervade our minds. Despite this, I have found that meditation can be essential in precisely those times. It helps me give the big questions the time and space to bounce around, let go of doubt, and focus on strengthening the skills and capacities I need to continue trying to live an ethical life.
In short, I think experience–instead of pure logic–is more likely to show you how you can keep meditating in a world full of challenges. Rather than focusing on the merits of the practice itself, the better approach is to ask whether meditation will serve you now. Of course, this is a question to ask yourself every time you are thinking about practice and not merely on the hardest of days. To be a meaningful one, though, it must be safe for the answer to be “no.”
Sometimes you may need to give yourself permission to take a pass from meditation. When the world feels really heavy, seeking support from a friend or loved one may serve you better. Taking a walk outside may help you get out of your head and reconnect with what is right in the world.
Self-care practices like meditation can be a wonderful way to take refuge when we encounter difficulty. But they serve us best when we don’t use them against ourselves. As you consider your meditation practice in the context of the broader world, always be kind to yourself.
If you decide that you want to try meditation, here is a practice inspired by Mr. Rogers that I developed for myself for hard days.
Want to learn more about mindfulness and compassion? Check out my new book, How to Be a Badass Lawyer, for a simple guide to creating a meditation practice of your own in 30 days. And to share mindfulness with your little one, check out my new children’s book, Mommy Needs a Minute.
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