Meditation habit - check

The 30 days for creating a meditation habit were over some time ago. I skipped meditating 7 of the 30 days. But always got back on track. Even after the 30 days are over, I've kept up the practice everyday.

Two lessons:

Something which seemed nearly impossible and vaguely effective after feeble attempts for more than a year, is now a concrete habit. In just 30 days.

Secondly, I'm learning to accept imperfection. There's hardly anything perfect or superbly technical about the way I meditate. Also, as I mentioned I skipped 7 of those days. So in effect, this was done in 23 days.

(Incidentally Cal Newport has a blog post today on perfectionism.)

But it has worked and served me well. I can now meditate for 14-15 minutes at a time. Without falling asleep or getting the urge to go to the laptop or eat something. I now actually look forward to it.

Next habit - waking up early.

Anything could be meditative..

...even prying off pebbles that get stuck in the underside of the soles of your running shoes. And washing them afterward. You just need to do it quietly, mindfully and without unnecessary rush.

Minimalism meets Zen

I used to get annoyed, even feel somewhat cheated, on reading Leo Babauta's posts. Actually, when I first discovered his blog I liked his writing and ideas a lot. Then, over a period of time, the repetitive ideas started jarring. I mean how often can you keep writing the same stuff day after day...focus, zen, minimalism, veganism, going against a culture of materialistic consumerism..

Strangely however, now I've started relying on that repetition of ideas. The blog posts are becoming a kind of anchor, something to remind me of what worked. It brings my straying mind back to what I need to focus on. If you look at it that way, this is kind of an episodic prolonged meditation!

The Simplify post worked for me this way. There are no new ideas in it. But it provides a reminder and a summary of many similarly themed ideas he has written about in the past. Briefly,

1) Block off some disconnected time
2) Start eliminating commitments. (eliminating is the key word, not doing. Things can be done or gotten rid of by saying no.)
3) Start purging possessions. (Glad to say I've been doing this more and more frequently)
4) Ban shopping for 30 days
5) Wash your bowl. (check)
6) Schedule time for what's important. (Am dismal here)
7) Eat some plants (check)
8) Drink green tea. I've found it's taste horrible. But then I got it from a tea-coffee making machine. Maybe I could try out making some at home.)

Ego-running and selfless running

Around the middle of the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig describes a pilgrimage he attempted in India. He set out for Mt. Kailas, the source of Ganga and the mythological abode of Shankar. He was in the company of a holy man and his followers.

But despite having the physical strength and intellectual motivation, he gave up after the third day and the pilgrimage went on without him.

Thinking about the reason for his failure, he makes a distinction between ego-climbing and selfless climbing.

He acknowledges that he was doing the whole thing for himself, to broaden his experience. He was using the mountain and the pilgrimage for his own purposes. In other words his view and experience of the pilgrimage was ego-centric. Ego-climbing.

The others however, saw the mountain as bigger (in metaphorical terms) than them. Their submission to its holiness made climbing an act of devotion for them. Unreal as it sounds, this gave them the strength to endure more than he could, even though he was the physically stronger one. They were not climbing for themselves but devoting their steps to something bigger than them. Selfless climbing, in one sense.

I've realized gradually that endurance activities- running, for me - are as much if not more about the mindset as about physical strength. This anecdote and the distinction between ego-and selfless running gives a good structure for developing a mindset when running. While it may be hard to think about a trail or a running path in a city as holy, it would be helpful to try selfless running by being more present and mindful of the process of running. He has described it more eloquently. A few extracts (I re-read the passage substituting running for climbing):

"To the untrained eye ego-climbing and selfless climbing may appear identical. Both kinds of climbers place one foot in front of the other. Both breathe in and out at the same rate. Both stop when tired. Both go forward when rested. But what a difference! The ego-climber is like an instrument out of adjustment. He puts his foot down an instant too soon or too late. He's likely to miss a beautiful passage of sunlight through the trees. He goes on when the sloppiness of his step shows he's tired. He rests at odd times. He looks up the trail trying to see what's ahead even when he knows what's ahead because he just looked a second before. He goes too fast or too slow for the conditions and when he talks his talk is forever about somewhere else, something else. He's here but he's not here. He rejects the here, is unhappy with it, wants to be farther up the trail but when he gets there will be just as unhappy because then it will be "here". What he's looking for, what he wants, is all around him, but he doesn't want that because it is all around him. Every step's an effort, both physically and spiritually, because he imagines his goal to be external and distant."

I wonder though if this can be put into practice when you are running in a group or with a partner.