We Are What We Do

I was speaking with a co-worker from my yoga class this past Friday. She was expressing some frustration with the meditative part of the class where we're supposed to empty our minds as much as possible. She felt she was somehow failing because whenever she'd try to empty her mind, she'd find herself thinking about something at work, or a place she had to be later, or something her son had said that morning. I explained to her that I'd been meditating virtually every day over the last year or so, and that while I was gradually getting better at emptying my mind during meditation, my experience was much the same as hers. Part of the point was to keep trying, and to understand that she wasn't going to be able to completely empty her mind in the matter of a few minutes when she'd only been working at it once a week for about six weeks. She seemed to feel a lot better after we'd talked, and I was glad I'd been able to have that conversation with her before she reached a point where she'd have given up. She'd been seeing only that she wasn't reaching the goal, and not seeing the value in the process itself.

With most things, we spend a lot more time with the process than we do with the end product, and therefore it's important to recognize that the process itself has value. One of the things our yoga teacher said during the meditative part of the class on one occasion was the simple phrase "We are what we do". I like it. It's concise and powerful with truth. It reminded me of the importance of making good use of your time right now, which includes rest, socializing, and other things that some people might consider a waste of time. The point is to recognize that every moment is a choice, and that you should try to make each one the best choice you can.