Some people find meditation hard and unpleasant. You sit in an unlikely position and you endeavor to operate your mind in a way that would not have occurred to you on your own. You may have read stories of discipline required of monks that doesn’t sound enjoyable at all. And then there are those who find the meditative experience delightful. It is no longer a chore to accomplish or a thing to be done just because it is good for you. It is viewed as a pleasant interlude in which to enjoy peace, a sense of wholeness and the joy of being alive without the inner torturer.
The difference may be in the teachers one has encountered, or it may be that by persisting in the practice one drops out of the struggle and opens to the true nature of meditation.
Some of us need to remind ourselves to shift out of the mode of the struggle and into enjoyment. Meditation can be pleasant and enjoyable. So can life.
© 2010 Tom Barrett