Read time 2 minutes. Observing and accepting meditation sits with the ego, not against it. This is the final article in our self-control series.
Hopefully, by now, you’ve had a chance to experiment with this practice. Just a simple itch. A flicker of discomfort. A moment of stillness.
What did it show you?
At face value, this meditation gives us a clear taste of the difference between acceptance and resignation—between “I’m okay” and “I don’t care.” But that distinction isn’t always thought logically. It’s felt viscerally. If you found yourself flooded with mental chatter while resisting the itch, odds are that chatter circled back to willpower in one form or another.
Good. That’s the point.
We’re learning how the mind reacts when it doesn’t get its way.
And more importantly, we’re learning how to watch that reaction.
The ego doesn’t love this kind of practice. It prefers motion, justification, distraction. If the thought this is stupid arose, that’s your ego doing what it does best: discrediting anything that might dethrone it. And now where getting somewhere.
Attention is the coin of the realm
Ego understands something we often forget—attention is everything. Where attention goes, energy flows. So long as it holds your gaze, it holds the power.
That’s why even this practice will get co-opted. You’ll find yourself thinking about the practice, strategizing around it. Am I doing it right? How long should I go? That was it, wasn’t it?
But that’s not the practice.
That’s commentary on the practice.
The real work is simple. Feel what you feel. Watch what you watch. Accept even the resistance. Let it be seen. Let it pass through.
Peace doesn’t always arrive on cue. Sometimes you sit to meditate and what you get is an itch. Or a leg cramp. Or a storm of thoughts. That’s not a problem—it’s the opportunity. Every experience becomes the practice when we allow it to be.
And when we truly allow, we shift.
From “I don’t care,” to “I’m okay,”
to the quiet space where no explanation is needed.
That’s not resignation. That’s freedom.
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Observing and accepting meditation opens the door
Zen practice has the power to invite a transformation of the very core of our being, to the seat of genuine allowing.
If you don’t believe me then take it from the professionals. This article on Psychology Today by Carole Bennett, M.A., is an enlightening read. It discusses the power and importance of learning to recognize the difference between accepting or saying I don’t care when dealing with other people.
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