I was just thinking how arrogant it is for me to be posting a blog series about meditating for 21 days. Big deal! There are so many people out there who have been meditating for years! So, meditating every day for three weeks is not that big a deal, I know.

The point of this exercise is that I am pretty bad at it! I hope that is actually encouraging! I am no guru, I am no zen master, I am not enlightened. I am just a man sitting cross-legged on a pillow every morning, trying to pay attention to his breath. And failing at it quite a lot! That’s fine. Maybe the point is that it doesn’t have to be a big deal.

My point is if I can build this habit into my daily life anyone can. You don’t need to expect to sit down and start feeling like you are levitating. Meditation can be a very simple, straight forward and grounding experience. A very down to earth thing: just sitting on the ground! I can’t imagine things being much more mundane than as I have been describing it to you: thoughts buzzing in my head, and feeling really itchy, or thinking about tacos!

The thing is despite all that noise, there is also a feeling of awareness, a feeling of calm presence that happens too. It’s just very subtle. I think that is what the first week of mediation has taught me: don’t expect to become a buddha overnight, just as you wouldn’t expect to become Arnold Schwarzenegger after one trip to the gym. Instead think of it as embarking on a way of life. You are always going to have a long way to go. And that is just fine. It is what it is. You have to grow your roots down before you stretch your branches up.