I get asked about meditation every now and then from friends and their friends. Here's what I tell them: - Meditation is not a spa treatment for the mind. Cert

I get asked about meditation every now and then from friends and their friends. Here's what I tell them: - Meditation is not a spa treatment for the mind. Certainly not in the short-term. I'm sure there are many meditation-like activities that will bring you more immediate "calming" effects. But those aren't meditation. - First time(s) you sit, one of your first realizations - through experience - will likely be around the impossibility of "stopping thinking." You might get into a wrestling match with your own mind. If I can't stop my own thoughts, then they aren't actually mine, right? Whose are they, then? - This might even lead to the realization that "these thoughts aren't mine, and my life has been my thoughts, so...who the fuck am I?!!!!" - I can't fathom a regular meditation practice that is wholly independent from any sort of intellectual study (for many, that is some version of Buddhism). - Meditation (time on the cushion) is just a teeny tiny sliver of the entire pie. Life (off the cushion) is where the real training is. - Awareness is not happy, it is not fun, it is not calm, it is not exciting, it is not an emotional feeling. Awareness is just awareness. This is merely scratching the surface. But the first point is crucial. Meditation isn't some once-in-a-while activity that you do to "feel better." That's something else.