Day 71: Leggo the Ego

I often find myself overidentifying both with the struggles my baby is having and my own struggles. When I finally have a moment when I am not actively feeding, changing, soothing, or entertaining the baby, I find my brain goes nuts with these worries.

The good news is (a) it’s not my fault (b) this is a universal human condition (c) there is a way of e

asing up on this. I find it very comforting to know that my crazy is not my crazy alone, and we all bear this burden together. All people switch over to what Marcus Raichle calls the “default mode network,” the self referential circuitry in brain, when not concentrating on any particular task.

But, people who have recently meditated show decreased activation in these areas of the brain after practice, and long term meditators show even greater quietude in these sections, that transcends the time they practice.

Good lord, there is, in fact, a way of shutting myself up! What a gift.

So basically, if we meditate a little, we can reap the benefits for a little while. And if we meditate a lot, we can reap the benefits for a lot of the while.

The next time you sit down to meditate, see if you can start framing your thoughts differently when they arise between focused effort. Instead of, “I messed up and now the baby has diaper rash,” try, “the baby has diaper rash.” Instead of, “I’m annoyed at the baby,” try “Ah, there’s annoyance! How interesting…” Instead of, “my back is killing me from carrying this dang baby everywhere,” try, “Ah, that’s sensation in the back.” The more we practice non-identification with our small selves, the less we end up in that default mode network, the less we suffer.

In short, Leggo that Ego.