Daily writing prompt

You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?

View all responses

This prompt reminds me of a class I took in my twenties. I was a couple of years into the working world, living in Boston, and had that feeling like “what’s next?” or “is this all there is?” I was trying to force myself to plan my next move—perhaps moving to a different city would make things interesting? The class was called “Insight Meditation” and the teacher’s name was Narayan.

Narayan was great. She taught us the basics of mindfulness meditation from the Buddhist tradition. We focused on our breath. When thoughts arose, we tried to observe them without judgement. Inner peace and living in the present moment were the goals. Eventually, I realized that trying to force a decision about my next move was not helpful. Although I did not keep up a daily meditation practice, I still think of Narayan’s wisdom.

Be here now.

One day in class Narayan said she had received some fantastic news and was having trouble not thinking about it. She said she was too “blissed out” about it. Her point was that any type of conditional joy (joy that depends on an outside factor – like winning the lottery) is inevitably going to change. She thought that getting too happy/excited about any external circumstance could lead to even lower lows. Deep despair and overwhelming joy are related. Staying on an even keel is better. A goal of insight meditation is to develop of lasting sense of contentment and peace from sources within you.

And guess what? I googled Narayan and she’s still teaching at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center and other organizations. She’s written a book and many of her “Dharma Talks” are online. It’s wild to find her again after all these years. I will definitely be engaging with her wisdom in this new phase of my life. I’m going to order her book today. Maybe check her out, if Buddhism or meditation is of interest to you.

Related post:

Pay attention to the journey