It seemed very familiar, at least the motions the author has gone through. On my first retreat, after one day, I was absolutely sure that I wanted to leave. Sit

It seemed very familiar, at least the motions the author has gone through. On my first retreat, after one day, I was absolutely sure that I wanted to leave. Sitting was painful, there was a lot of sleepiness, and I was longing for daily joys such as listening to music. And the mind is very well able to snowball unpleasanties :). After that first day, when I had the first talk with the meditation teacher, he made a joke about my mocking, subtle enough to make me smile. The discontent quickly melted away, and it suddenly became clear to me that I was suffering because I was craving for pleasantness. The following week had moments with intense joy, moments with intense pain. But it became easier to see them without clinging, giving a lot of peace. It's something definitely worth doing. Though it doesn't hurt starting with tiny steps, rather than cold-turkey ;).