Happiness Meditation, and Dog Throw-Up
Be with the discomfort, and how to not take things fore-granted.
I’m growing to be more willing to be with physical discomfort
But emotional discomfort, get me out! Quick, distractions. Anything. Even physical discomfort.
This is a quick story of dog throw-up and how it helped cement a lesson during meditation
Today I was meditating with Peloton and it was called a happiness meditation. The instructor, Kristin McGee, was saying the key to happiness is enjoying the ordinary moments. Even emptying the dishwasher, feeling how the plates feel in your hand, and appreciating that we even have these utensils that someone created for us a long time ago.
So there I was, sitting with my breath (I’m new to meditating, so I’m still learning the ropes), and I hear my sweet Tina hacking ready to throw up.
The momentary decision, do I leave it to dry and then deal with harder to clean when I’m done, or pause the meditation and go clean it. So I got up, went to clean it, and my knee jerk reaction was annoyance. Last night she ate a wood chip, which always makes her throw up.
Then I stopped and thought, this is an ordinary moment, how can I appreciate it? And then I was overwhelmed with gratitude for my sweet dog, her sweet face, and realized that one day when she’s gone, I’ll wish I had the opportunity to comfort her and clean up in this moment.
And so I petted her, cleaned it up, and went back to the meditation, feeling sadness, gratitude, and crying softly at the sudden onset of these emotions.
Now normally, the thought of people and creatures I love is one I immediately shut down and distract from. So I didn’t want to return to meditating and listen to those thoughts. I wanted to switch to something more physical so I could make the thoughts go always. But then I remembered what another yoga instructor had said, to “be with the discomfort” and I decided to just be with the discomfort and let it guide me to even more gratitude and joy for my sweet little Tina.
It’s uncomfortable but just like I can handle physical discomfort for a little while, I can practice handling this (and not avoiding it) for a moment, too.
