The layout of this comic took me quite awhile to figure out. I wanted to find a way to illustrate how my meditation practice has evolved over the years…I finally came up with what you see here and I’m happy with the result.
I’ve mentioned that I’ve been doing meditation regularly since 2017, and I struggle to find a way to talk about it for fear of sounding ‘preachy’. So if you are not into meditation or don’t care too much about my thoughts on it, feel free to skip this blog. I don’t want you to take this post as me saying “You totally have to try this, it will help you with everything that is wrong in your life!”…
I think The Oatmeal (who is an absolute genius cartoonist) illustrates my biggest fear of becoming one of ‘these people’ in this comic.
Anyway, now that I’ve warned you about it, I’ma PREACH!
I started meditation because I wanted to find a way to better communicate with difficult people, to not take things so personally, to be calmer, to be happier, to find ‘peace’ in my fucking “raging racoon on meth” mess of a mind. I think a lot of people start meditation looking for these types of things.
The interesting part that I’ve learned over the years, and what I hope comes across in this cartoon, is that meditation isn’t about stopping thought. Meditation is about accepting thought, noticing it, letting it go. You do this again and again and again and again and again and again to infinity. The more I practice and learn about it, the better I get at letting thoughts go and also accepting that thought is just a part of life, and it’s okay, I am not my thoughts.
The other thing I’ve found through this ‘journey’ is that I have a tremendously improved ability to measure my reactions. I’m much less apt to react with strong emotions, blame or anger. Things happen, like someone cuts me off in traffic, I drop a glass, I lose something I’ve been working on all morning due to the power going out, etc. etc. etc. When these shitty, annoying, often unfair things happen there is this ‘beat’ I am able to take where I can decide how I want to react. I’m not saying I always take the calm route and I sure as hell yell “FUCK!” if I drop something on my toe or a deal I’ve been working on for weeks goes sideways…but, I am WAY faster at not letting it linger and ruin my day. And almost never drop huge F-bombs in traffic anymore.
I take a beat, take a breath, and I move on. I absolutely love this version of myself.
Finally, I really like the last panel of the comic where the bear gives the demon a hand. It’s like through this practice, I’ve ‘made friends’ with my mind, my demon. I still don’t love the shit she has to say – and it definitely isn’t gone. I’m not sitting here in total equanimity. However, I do know that thoughts do not define me, I don’t have to act on them, and I can just let it go and get on with my day.
The Graphical Bear 