By Emma, age 10
Daddy’s been teaching my step-mom Nadia and me how to meditate, but I’m not sure I completely get it. I keep asking him what I’m supposed to think about while I’m sitting there, but he says I’m not supposed to think about anything! How do you do that?
So sometimes I watch the two of them to try to get an idea what I should be doing. Nadia looks so serious sitting there with her eyes closed! She’s got to be thinking about something, maybe her work. And Daddy’s always smiling, like he’s trying not to laugh. He must be thinking about a joke or something like that.
I’ve started imagining that I’m sitting on a cloud in a big blue sky. Whenever I breathe in, my cloud rises up a little bit. When I breathe out, it settles back down. That helps, but my mind still wanders. Daddy says a wandering mind is normal, and to “just go with it.”
But now I’m curious why my mind can’t be still. Sure, when I was 7 or 8, I was just a kid. A restless mind at that age is normal. But being 10 now I feel kind of grown up. I should be able to control my mind at this age. I did some research to find out if there is something wrong with me.
I learned something interesting: The mind is supposed to wander! We evolved that way to keep our ancestors alive through the long aeons when everything and everybody tried to kill them. Back then, if they concentrated too much on any one thing, something else would creep up on them and eat them! So we inherited their wandering minds, even though most of the time we’re mostly safe.
So, it’s getting easier to stay on my cloud for a longer time before I fall off. And it’s probably a coincidence, but I think that it’s getting easier for me to concentrate on my math lessons.
Our domestic android Valerie is giving me a hard time about it, though. She tells me that meditation isn’t logical and doesn’t compute. Maybe androids just aren’t supposed to meditate? I asked my mom (Daddy’s ex-wife Julia) about meditating and all she said is “it can’t hurt.” But when I asked if she wanted to join the group, she said she’d rather sleep in. That’s what Jack and Mgumi say about it too. When they’re not out surfing, they’d rather sleep as late as they can.
I think floating on a cloud is kinda fun. And maybe if I watch long enough I’ll figure out what my “laughing Buddha” Daddy sees in my super-serious step-mom Nadia. Besides, I like teasing our android Valerie now and then by doing something she calls “illogical.” If she complains too much, Daddy will just put her to sleep for a few hours, and she hates that!
Al Fin Comment:
If it were just me, I’d do my sitting between 5 AM and 6 AM. But the girls would never go for that, so I compromise and schedule our time just before breakfast. The concept I am trying to teach both of them is “effortlessness.” I think 10 year old Emma is coming closer to experiencing the beginning stages of letting go, but 28 year old Nadia holds on so tightly! Both girls are staying with the program so far, and seem to be making progress, so I’m happy.
BTW, here’s another audiobook on meditation that some may find interesting. It’s about 4 hours long, and contains a lot of “inside information” on the process and some of the possible levels of experience that most people can achieve, if they persist.
Note: The title for this post comes from comedian Stephen Wright
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