How To Meditate: Stop Striving

This month I’ve made a commitment to stop striving! I’m tired of always having this “itch” in my mind that no matter what I’m doing, even if I’m meditating, it feels like there’s something else that I have to do, a ceaseless stream of activities that need to be done before I can rest my mind.

The Myth of Sisyphus

In the myths of the Greeks, King Sisyphus was punished for being vain in his attitude towards the gods. His punishment was to roll a huge boulder up a steep hill. However, before he could reach the top, the massive stone would always roll back down, forcing him to begin again, thus condemning Sisyphus to an eternity of useless efforts and unending frustration. As such, pointless or ceaseless activities are sometimes described as Sisyphean.

What is Striving

Like Sisyphus, our striving comes from pursuing useless efforts and unending frustrations, or engaging in ceaseless activities.

In our lives, the useless efforts and unending frustrations aren’t what we’re doing, it’s how we’re doing it; mindless, ignorant of our own mental suffering, forgetting to take joy in what we’re doing.

It’s important to mention here that striving isn’t the same as pursuing a vision for life, or doing what brings meaning to you. To stop striving doesn’t mean to stop working on things in your life. It doesn’t mean that you no longer wish to accomplish something. What it means is that you let go of the mental pain, for lack of a better word, that can accompany everything that you do…even meditation.

Striving isn’t the pursuit of a life’s vision or goal, it’s the mental anguish and mental tension that comes along with that pursuit.

For so many of us, no matter what we do, there’s always this nagging feeling that we either aren’t doing enough, that we could be doing something better, or that we need to achieve something more. Again, I’m not talking about having a goal that you’re working towards or a vision for your life, I’m talking about the mental strain that comes from “efforting” your way through things, rather than working hard while keeping your mind at peace.

How to Stop Striving and Stay Engaged in Life

Think about what your life would be like if you could do what you need to do, love what you’re doing, and pursue your vision for life, without the mental strain that usually comes with it; wouldn’t that be great? Imagine ease in all that you do, an ease that isn’t based on what you’re doing as much as how you’re doing  it. Sound good? It does to me.

When I find myself getting into a “striving box” of my own making, here’s what I do to get out of that box and what I do to pull myself out and get back into the flow of things:

When you find that you’re striving too much, when you feel the strain in your mind that tells you that your mind is tight, bring yourself back to the moment. In that moment, use your meditation practice as an anchor, so that even if you’re doing something that you love to do, you can do it without the mental anguish.

For me (and I’d like to hear from you about how your striving feels) striving is like a tension in my mind, and it causes an inability to attend to the present. Meditation is all about attending to the present so striving is the exact opposite from what I enjoy about meditation. So, the way that you become familiar with “bringing yourself back” is through the practice of meditation.

Meditation Helps You in Life

Meditation, at its heart, is about just allowing your mind to be, undistracted, aware, without trying to do anything. As we’ve said on this site, meditation is more about being than about doing. So think about it, is there a way that you can apply that same principle to what you do in your life? Can you just “be” in what you’re doing?

If you want to learn how to live a life with less striving, a great place to start is in your meditation practice. Since you’re not actually “doing” anything when you meditate, taking time to practice, and watching what comes up as “striving” during your practice is a great way to familiarize yourself with the state of mind that accompanies your Sisyphean efforts.

How To Meditate

Maybe you’ve already got a meditation practice. If that’s the case, great! Keep it up. And feel free to use all of the content from this site to support you in your efforts. If you haven’t started to meditate, begin now.

Many people don’t meditate because they believe that they need to do “something special” in order to meditate, maybe you’re one of them. “Doing something” special isn’t the case. All you need is your breath, and a few minutes of time set aside to begin your practice. Here are some tools to get you started:

This site has tons of tools for learning how to meditate.

I encourage you to look through the HUNDREDS of articles that I’ve written and especially check out my weekly meditation tips and other useful meditation materials provided for your health and well being. And please let me know if you’d like to discuss anything with me, have any questions or need clarification regarding anything that I’ve written about.

Thanks for visiting and have a mindful day.