Meditation is like putting yourself in handcuffs. For those 15 minutes, all you can do is sit there, and let the world pass by. Your mind can fight, sure — and it will — but at the end of the day, all inner barking, revolting, and “thinking against the current” will be to no avail.
You probably won’t realize that in your first session. Or your second. Or your third. Sooner or later, however, your exhausted mind will want to give resignation a try — and, for once, it will actually be the right thing to do. No matter who you are, the world would continue spinning without you just the same. It is humbling, empowering, and necessary to have this realization on a regular basis.
There are many ways to practice forced acceptance. You could take a daily walk without your phone, ear plugs, or any other devices. You could stare out the window for ten minutes. Meditation is the most efficient because it’s the most honest. It doesn’t sugarcoat the fact that it’s about doing nothing. It doesn’t try to hide its passivity behind some other activity. If you want to go straight to the source, meditation is your best bet.
Where do you practice forced acceptance? How often do you do it? Do you remember you’re not Superman on a daily basis? Questions worth answering in a world that wants to make you feel as if you control everything, need to do everything, and that whatever goes wrong is your fault.
Learn acceptance. Be at peace. And if it takes the occasional pair of mental handcuffs to get there, perhaps that’s not a fluke but part of the design.