The Swept Floor Never Stays Clean, April 29, 2009
By Arnie Kozak
If you sweep the patio in November after leaves have fallen, you
wouldn't expect it to stay clean forever. The patio is like the mind.
Mindfulness meditation practice can feel like sweeping the mind and
clearing away the thoughts strewn about making a big mess.
It's easy to get caught up in resistance and resentment toward these
leaves: "Damn it, I just swept that floor!" Despite our protests,
nature has another idea. Nature doesn't care if we've swept the patio
or how long it took us to do it. In the same way, the mind has its
nature and it doesn't really care about your agenda. The mind will
continue to do what it does: give rise to thoughts. If we expect the
mind to stay "swept," we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.
Meditation will not "fix you"; it will not change things once and for
all. Nothing can do this. Our job is to keep sweeping. Thoughts will
continue to come and blow onto your clean-swept patio. Just sweep. No
need to ask questions. No need to complain. Keep sweeping. We don't
need to analyze, interpret, or fix the leaves; time after time, we
just need to sweep, returning to this moment just as it is, again,
again, again.
With continued practice, we can start to recognize the wisdom in not
reacting, or if reactions arise (as they sometimes will) of not
amplifying them and feeding them.
We can learn to enjoy the coming and going of the leaves—and even of
the endless sweeping as well!
–Arnie Kozak, from Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants (Wisdom Publications)
