The hidden key to informal meditation: unlock your brain’s urge to be happy anytime, anywhere

Summary

The article discusses the author's discovery of the key to effective informal meditation, which involves focusing on the intention behind daily actions to tap into the brain's natural desire for happiness and relief from suffering.

Abstract

The author shares a personal journey of integrating informal meditation into daily life by connecting with the underlying intentions of routine actions. Initially struggling with the practice, the breakthrough came with the realization that every action, no matter how mundane, is driven by the pursuit of happiness or the alleviation of suffering. By grounding attention in the anticipated comfort or discomfort of tasks, such as making tea or doing dishes, the author found that this approach brings a sense of mild happiness and compassion, reinforced by the brain's release of dopamine in anticipation of pleasant activities. This method is presented as a way to maintain motivation for healthy routines and protect against the temptation of more intense but potentially harmful pursuits. The article cites neuroscience research on compassion meditation and dopamine release, as well as wisdom from the Tibetan teacher Longchenpa, to underscore the importance of not only recognizing one's basic okayness through formal meditation but also nurturing it through informal practice to avoid the daily struggle of rediscovering this state.

Opinions

The author believes that informal meditation, when focused on the intention behind actions, can make life more interesting and less boring.
There is a skepticism towards the traditional approach of slowing down mundane activities as a means to enhance curiosity and interest in life.
The article suggests that the true motivation behind our actions is a desire for happiness or an aversion to suffering.
The practice of informal meditation is seen as a way to amplify the smaller releases of dopamine associated with routine activities, thus sustaining motivation for healthy habits.
The author endorses the Tibetan belief that the mind is in the heart, implying that our intentions and motivations are deeply connected to our emotional center.
The article posits that formal meditation alone is insufficient; it must be complemented by a robust informal meditation practice to consistently experience a sense of basic okayness.
The author values the teachings of Longchenpa, using his quote to emphasize the importance of not only recognizing one's nature but also habituating to it through meditation to prevent being overwhelmed by thoughts.

The hidden key to informal meditation: unlock your brain’s urge to be happy anytime, anywhere

I love my formal meditation. It’s taken me more than a few years to get there, but I love connecting every morning to a basic sense of okayness that is always there. I find this easiest to recognize early in the day when my body is still and my mind is free of distractions.

Informal meditation, the practice of bringing awareness to daily activities, has always been more of a struggle. It’s only recently that I’ve figured out how to bring it alive and make it stick.

I’m not sure how I got it into my head that informal meditation is exclusively about bringing awareness to mundane activities in such a way as to slow them down. No matter how many times I’ve tried to get my brain to believe that this will juice my curiosity and make life more interesting, it remains stubbornly attached to the idea that this is just making already boring things even more boring.

Then one day my meditation teacher encouraged me to focus on the intention behind the daily actions rather than action itself. He challenged me to notice how the intention behind every activity, no matter how mundane, is driven either by the desire to be happy, or the urge to reduce suffering.

I tried this out first in the transition between formal meditation and morning writing. After meditation, I make some tea, and while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil, I check in on the dishes situation. Does anything need to be loaded into or unloaded from the dishwasher? Do I need to run it, etc.

I used to do this all while my mind drifted off to whatever excitements or anxieties it was already anticipating for the day ahead. But these days I ground my attention in the comfort I anticipate from the tea, and the suffering I imagine from the specter of a sink full of yuckiness. If I remember I appreciate that I care enough about myself to take these small actions. Then in my sustained state of mild happiness, I take my tea to my desk, settle into my comfy egg shaped office chair, and jot down any insights that might have drifted up so far from my morning activities.

It’s definitely working. The secret sauce to a good informal meditation is the warmth of loving kindness and compassion. Tibetans believe that the mind is in the heart not in the head. Locked into your heart somewhere is the reason you do what you do and when you take the time to connect with and appreciate it, that flow of basic goodness gradually opens up a little stronger.

There’s good neuroscience behind this practice. Compassion meditation is strongly correlated with the release of dopamine. But one thing that’s easy to forget is that dopamine is released not when an action is complete, but when the body is anticipating an action. It rewards us right before we do an action. So when we pay attention to our intention, we amplify those smaller releases of dopamine that we experience with routine activities. This sustains our motivation to stay with healthy routines, and leaves us less vulnerable to the need to level up our dopamine with more intense, but potentially draining activities.

Longchenpa has written:

“You may recognize your own nature, but if you do not meditate and get used to it, you will be like a baby left on a battlefield: you’ll be carried off by the enemy, the hostile army of your own thoughts!”

Meditation may help you recognize your basic okayness, but if you don’t protect it with a robust, sustainable informal meditation practice, it’s like having to be born again everyday. And who wants that life!