Clouds Passing

For the Year 2 assignment, I started sitting down and doing nothing twice a day for 10 minutes. I immediately noticed an effect on my life, and a subtle effect on my regular sitting practice. The first time I sat I noticed a calmness, a spaciousness in my mind. It was really lovely. It reminded me of when I was a little girl and I used to go out into a field in summer and lie in the grass and look up at the blue sky and the puffy white clouds and feel so relaxed and happy. I felt like I had no responsibilities, and in fact, for that 10 minutes, I didn’t have any responsibilities. I could just sit.

I also noticed that this practice felt a lot like meditation, only in some ways better because I wasn’t trying to do anything. I was truly “just sitting”. My mind was calm and clear. Thoughts came and went but they didn’t seem like obstacles as they do in meditation. When I’m just sitting, thoughts naturally pass like clouds. That was a good lesson, so now when I sit in meditation I do my best to keep that sense of lightness.