Yesterday, I read an interesting quotation by the American poet and educator, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). He wrote:
For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is to let it rain.
We have absolutely no control over the weather; all we can do is manage how we respond to the elements that nature sends our way. Getting angry at, frustrated with, or taking a rainy day as personal failure makes no sense and even causes unnecessary suffering for ourselves.
So too with meditation. We no more have control over what the mind/brain bubbles up than we do over the filtering process of our kidneys or the clouds overhead. What we do control is how we respond to what the mind/brain rains down on us.
How much more pleasant, relaxing, and healing for us to experience with balance and equanimity the mental weather that passes through each meditation experience. It may not be what we want and our “parade” may get rained on, but we can just observe the downpour without getting wet. We also know, like the weather, our meditation experiences constantly change –never staying the same. Great meditations (however you define great) disappear and horrible meditations (again, your definition) similarly evolve into something else.
We have so many more issues in our lives that need our energy than getting bogged down in stress and unhappiness because the weather and how the mind/brain responds during a meditation aren’t going as planned.
