Hi folks and welcome to the Daily Insight.
My name's Matt Young and today I want to invite you on a trip down the rabbit hole.
Will you dare to join me?
Before you choose,
Here's some background info.
In the 1999 film The Matrix,
The main protagonist,
Neo,
Is given the option to take one of two pills,
The red or the blue.
If he takes the blue pill,
Nothing happens.
His life just carries on as before.
If he chooses the red,
However,
His life is transformed as he gains a completely new awareness.
When you meditate,
You have this same choice.
You can take your meditation like a blue pill,
As a way to carry on much as before,
Or perhaps even as a way to escape the inevitable stresses and discomforts of life.
However,
You can also take your meditation like a red pill,
As a way to gain deeper insight and awareness,
As a way to confront the distress and discomfort life throws at you.
If you take the red pill,
You don't try to calm yourself down.
Instead,
You step up to the plate and squarely face whatever comes up in each moment,
Whether that's a racing mind,
A torrent of emotion,
Pain,
Agitation,
Wonder,
Confusion,
Or something completely unexpected.
Taking the red pill isn't necessarily comfortable.
It might take you to your limits or beyond,
But the potential rewards are newfound confidence,
Purpose,
And energy.
So which pill will you take?
If you're still listening,
I'm presuming it was the red.
So fasten your seatbelts.
You're in for a ride.
And to begin,
Close your eyes and imagine that you're standing in a featureless void.
There's nothing to see,
Nothing to hear,
Nothing to sense.
There's just you.
And all that you experience are the projections of your own mind.
So what are they?
What pops into your head?
Are you transported into the past or future or into some reality of your own making?
Are you okay with what you see?
Or is your own mind somehow confronting?
Remember,
You took the red pill,
So there's no going back.
Well,
You could if you really needed to,
But I don't think you will.
So again,
What's it like inside your own head?
Is your mind racing?
Is there a subtle or not so subtle wanting for something else?
Are you hoping for a deep meditation or that something profound will happen?
Or are you wondering whether you're doing this right?
Do you feel awkward,
Bored or uncomfortable?
Perhaps you feel a heaviness or an impatience.
Are you judging this meditation,
Good or bad?
Are you judging this moment,
Good or bad?
Are you judging your experience,
Good or bad?
Why not see if you can continue without any agenda?
Making no effort to relax and no effort to focus on anything in particular.
Just let curiosity guide you as though you were visiting this place for the first time.
Just drawing your attention now.
Let your attention drift around,
Just noticing whatever appears before you.
And notice if your experience is mostly pleasant,
Mostly unpleasant or neutral.
And when you find something that you're tempted to avoid,
Even slightly,
Gently direct your attention back to whatever it was that triggered that movement away.
Focus on the discomfort itself.
Treating that discomfort like a musician might treat the trickiest couple of bars in a song as a place to pay careful attention.
Slow right down and bring it into focus.
Knowing that by turning towards discomfort,
You have the chance to strengthen your mind in the same way you can strengthen your body by pushing it just beyond its limits.
What was it that you attempted to shy away from?
The thought,
Sensation,
Memory or emotion,
Some ache or pain or sadness.
And what was it about that experience that triggered your aversion?
Did it remind you of some previous experience?
Did you make some prediction about it?
Perhaps assuming that it was too much to handle,
Unbearable.
Did you assume that it was dangerous or overwhelming to let that thought or feeling in?
And what's it like to imagine yourself gently drawing that experience closer?
Just a little bit.
Just for a moment.
And perhaps even another moment.
Can you notice something new or unexpected about it?
Is it possible to stay with any discomfort you find?
As though you were sitting by the side of someone in pain.
Just being there with them.
Lending your support.
Not shying away.
Not diverting your attention.
Having some strength,
Some spine.
All the while breathing deeply.
Breathing easily.
And notice if there's any temptation to move away.
And see if you can just let that temptation be there.
And see if you can sink a little more deeply into the discomfort you noticed before.
Or perhaps a new discomfort if the first one has gone.
Let yourself sink into it as though into the waters of a piping hot bath.
Cautiously.
Perhaps tentatively.
But knowing that the heat is healing.
And just lie there for a minute.
At rest.
At rest with what is.
Breathing deeply.
Breathing easily.
Letting your body sink down.
Letting your muscles go slack and soft.
But still feeling into any discomfort present.
As though you were massaging it with your mind.
As though you had the capacity to feel much more than you thought.
So what's happening?
You still breathing easily?
Can you relax into this moment a little more?
Can you accept things just as they are,
Just for a moment?
And then another.
Can you loosen up a little?
Can you relinquish control?
Can you let this moment express itself just the way it wants to?
Without trying to control or manipulate or change it.
Can you let everything come and go in its own time?
In its own way?
Is the discomfort you first identified still there?
Has it changed?
Did you discover something new about it?
And how do you feel now?
What was it like to take the red pill?
And would you do it again?
If not,
What prevents you from facing life in this way?
And finally,
What would happen,
Do you think,
If you were to make it a habit to lean into your discomfort a little more often?
