Sometimes I Make My Bed While I’m Still in It.
So this may sound a little odd, but hang with me, for a moment….. Sometimes I make my bed while I’m still in it. Yes, it’s true.
I gingerly scooch my body up so I’m sitting against the headboard with just my legs stretched out under the still warm covers. I pull the comforter and soft warm flannel sheets—we live in the Pacific Northwest so it’s always cool enough for flannel—up to the bottom of my tummy which makes an easy stopping place.
Then I gently pull the covers up on Bill’s side of the bed to match. Our quilted bedspread slips up easily over the comforter and with a few carefully tempered tugs, it falls into position.
Like a little tiny crab trying to slip undetected from one shell to another, I carefully sneak my legs, then my body, out from under the covers leaving behind a lump-free, perfectly, made bed.
Why in the world do I go through such a dance?
Truth? Because I’m lazy.
I figured out it’s easier to make my bed by sitting very still in this one position—while staying warm and cozy—than to go back and forth from side to side trying to get everything to match up and lay smoothly.
What does this have to do with meditation?
Believe it or not, I’m lazy about meditating too. So I find ways of doing meditation in my life that are easy, feel good, and that I enjoy—like my warm cozy bed. I’ve never been good at doing something because, “It’s good for me.”
What works best for me is when I do something because I want to.
And, I want to do things that I enjoy, that make me feel good.
Meditating with a group of people feels good! Not just because meditation is easier and we go deeper in a group. But because it feels good to be part of group who care about you, and who you care about too.
The Buddhists recognized that all of us will have times where our meditation becomes a duty, a “should,” which is when most of us become lazy.
And they figured out that meditating with a group is the best antidote for those inevitable times—which is why it’s known as the third of the meditator’s Three PIllars:
- The Buddha: attunement to your chosen form of the Divine,
- The Dharma: the teachings,
- The Sangha: your spiritual community that supports, and cares, about you.
Being part of a spiritual community is as essential as the other two because without it, your stool, your meditation practice, will fall over.
The community carries us through those times of laziness, avoidance, and resistance. It’s the warm bed when our practice falls off or gets stale.
For those of you who are looking for a spiritual community, we’d love to have you join us. Check out our full lineup of classes here.