On Hope/Optimism and Busy Weekends

Back when I was working through IIH, there were some weekends when I wasn't busy. I didn't have to work during those weekends, and I didn't have any errands to run. During those weekends, I could spend hours each day practicing and therefore advance a lot. However, there were also weekends when I was very busy. Maybe I had to work, or maybe I had a lot of errands. Regardless, I couldn't spend a lot of time in my room practicing the exercises of IIH. When I couldn't practice nearly as much as I wanted to, I felt my progress was slow. When I felt my progress was slow, I'd lose hope and become pessimistic. This would make me not want to bother trying at all. Sometimes, I'd even fall into despair. Since despair is an unpleasant feeling, I'd try to escape from my despair, perhaps by allowing myself to become immersed in television or the pleasure of eating junk food. Of course that would make everything worse. Reflecting back on this, I learned that it's important to stay hopeful/optimistic.

If you spend the whole day in your room practicing, then assuming you have the stamina and strength to do that without overtraining, you will make a lot of progress. If you have a full-time job, you probably won't be able to do this on weekdays, but you might be able to do this on weekends. The thing is, let's say you have to work on a Saturday, or that you have a lot of errands to run, and therefore can only do the bare minimum amount of formal practice. As long as you remain mindful throughout the day while working or running errands, you will still advance a lot. If you keep this in mind, then you'll remain hopeful and optimistic. 

Have a clear idea of what the bare minimum for you is. If you're on Step 1, I'd say the bare minimum is thirty minutes of meditation each day. Ideally, you should do more than just meditate for thirty minutes each day. You should also practice conscious eating during your meals, spend some time practicing conscious breathing and praying for wisdom, and repeat an affirmation at the end of the day while you're lying in bed. However, the absolute bare minimum of formal practice is thirty minutes of meditation. If you can do thirty minutes of meditation and also remain mindful throughout the rest of the day while you're not meditating, you'll advance a lot. You may not advance as much as if you'd spent the whole day in your room meditating, praying, and practicing conscious breathing and plastic imagination exercises, but you'll still advance a lot. If you can advance a lot today, then you can advance a lot every day. If you can advance a lot every day, then you have legitimate reason to be hopeful and optimistic that you will successfully work through IIH. So do at least the bare minimum by meditating for thirty minutes and then remain mindful while working or running errands. If you remember that you'll advance a lot simply but doing just this much, then you'll always be hopeful and optimistic. 

By the way, everything I've written here applies to weekdays as well as weekends. I talk primarily about weekends in this post because it can be especially frustrating when you can only do the bare minimum on a Saturday or Sunday. On weekdays, if you have a full-time job, that may prevent you from doing much more than the bare minimum anyway, so it's less frustrating when things come up that cause you to only be able to do the bare minimum. However, even in the case of weekdays, you may find yourself frustrated when you can only do the bare minimum. When that happens, you should also remember that as long as you remain mindful throughout the day, you will make a lot of progress, even if you do the bare minimum amount of formal practice.