The Only Progress to Meditation
Meditation has been a large part of my life since I finished college. My biggest gripe with meditation is that it’s hard to track progress. Hard to know I’m moving in the right direction.
I participated in a 3-day retreat last year and hoped a teacher could address my concern.
I finally got a moment with the teacher and asked him, "How do you track progress with meditation?".
He responded, "The only way to track progress is through compassion, kindness, and love. Are you acting from a place of compassion, kindness, and love? That’s all you need to focus on when it comes to progress".
I walked away surprised by the simple answer.
I contemplated his answer in relation to my life. A pattern slowly emerged. The times I’ve acted from a place of compassion, kindness, and love — life has been fun, exciting, and full of adventure.
Unknowingly, we are in our true nature when we do act from a place of compassion, kindness, and love. They have always been present within us from when we were merely children.
Meditation allows us to cultivate wisdom through letting go of our attachments and expectations from the external world. The liberation of our worries allows us to connect to our true selves, a self, that lives in alignment with compassion, kindness, and love. These 3 words speak to us at our core level because we are them and they are us. The mind, body, and soul become lighter as we get back to seeing the world with those big eyes in constant awe.
I don’t question my progress with meditation anymore.
I have become more conscious of my interaction with the world though. I try to act from a place of compassion, kindness, and love. Sometimes I don’t and that’s okay. It’s just part of the journey.