must sit in center of seesaw

someone asks a monk, what's the difference between psychotherapy and meditation? he says, to the effect, psychotherapy can get you to separate somewhat from all that you are caught up in when you are so far into the tangle that you can't get out of the tangle, and you are the tangle. it's like sitting on a seesaw. psychotherapy can help you to find some equilibrium on either side of the plank. what meditation does is to get you to the center of the seesaw from where you sit still and watch the ups and downs without being drawn into it and affected by it. but sometimes a person is so deep into the ups and downs that psychotherapy is necessary to help him/her to get some distance from the end of the plank before the person can meditate.

this is what i must keep in mind as i go through the biggest challenge yet of my life.

there is just one life

once a fabulous monk says, on one hand you can meditate for a few minutes and that's fine and great. on another hand i find that when i sit for an hour, 45 minutes are for settling in and quieting down before i can go into a deeper state.

i never get what she means. today i have an experience of that. after almost an hour i realize i'm so comfortable in my easy lotus posture and easy, steady breath that i can effortlessly keep sitting. meanwhile this deep, substantive serenity permeates my awareness. every now and then i see an insight which, in a subtle way, illuminates something i couldn't see before. quietly jot a keyword down and i return to meditation. by the time i'm ready to come out of meditation i feel cool, clear and confident. the necessary tasks of the day are also mapped out. indeed there is not this life and that life. there is just one life. when i am anchored in the inner self my whole life flows properly.