“Don’t just do something, sit there,” people accustomed to meditation sometimes quip when confronted with a difficult situation. It means that instead of kicking into action at the first thought of trouble, we consider first taking a moment to sit and meditate. But isn’t that giving the situation time to deteriorate? For most problems, probably not.
By taking just 10 minutes in meditation you can significantly improve your chance of solving the problem by
- not being completely taken over by your mind-made interpretation and allowing for alternative perspectives,
- grounding yourself and allowing the anxiety of the moment to pass through,
- connecting to that which is working well at the time
- generating a feeling of joy,
- bringing to mind your deeply-held values (thus calibrating yourself to act in accordance with them), and
- preparing the stage for joyful, courageous and effective action to address the situation.
Remember that we are much better problem solvers when we are happy, optimistic and at ease. So next time you feel the urge to rush and do, consider heading for the cushion instead.