Creating the space to sit 2 hours a day is a challenge. Part of this challenge arises because it’s 2 hours I need to build into my schedule that few others in my life need to consider. As I’ve made a few friends who also meditate I’ve enjoyed sharing the responsibility of how to build meditation into our daily schedule. Sometimes it involves taking turns meditating on a long car trip or meditating in 20 minute chunks throughout the day when down time is available. By being more flexible and creative with my schedule, and less attached to two regular sitting hours I’ve been able to enjoy more adventures.
This can be a slippery slope in the beginning of your daily practice. When I tried this strategy with my non meditating friends early on I often got caught up in the days activities and found myself to tired and scattered to prioritize sitting. It wasn’t until some people close to me starting taking their meditation practices seriously that I was able to stick with it. My friends would start asking me when I was going to sit instead of my needing to separate myself from the group. This made a huge difference.
I wonder how we can support larger and larger communities to meditate. The ultimate challenge would be figuring out how to meditate as a parent of several kids. Could 2 to 4 dhamma families figure out how to share supervision of their children to allow space to meditate? With meditators as role models, would children become bought into supporting their parents daily practice or would they resent this time when they weren’t being cared for?
Up to this point in my meditation practice I’ve felt the pressure to decide between either a meditators life or a full householders life. I want to explore this more and challenge myself to figure out how to have both. I think the secret, if I succeed, will be the support of my family and friends. We will see what happens. Time to meditate.