The Rhythm of Insight and Discouragement
El Ritmo de la Comprensión y el Desánimo
A question about the cycle of breakthrough moments in practice followed by deflation, and whether lasting understanding requires sustained intensity.
The Rhythm of Insight and Discouragement
A question about the cycle of breakthrough moments in practice followed by deflation, and whether lasting understanding requires sustained intensity.
Sometimes I feel like I really get what you're saying, or what other teachers I'm engaged with are saying. Recently, during a meditation, I had a feeling of it all coming together. But I've noticed a habit: I get really excited about that for a day or two, and then it turns into a bit of a story. Then I don't sleep well, or there's some relationship drama, or some other issue, and I feel discouraged, like I don't actually get it at all. It feels like a stamina thing, like playing a sport where you have a really good ten or twenty minutes of play but then you're exhausted and can't maintain that level of exertion and flow consistently. I've been struggling with that and wondered if you had any thoughts.
Yes, it's very common. Not only do we think we've gotten something and then it passes, it might have been, as you said, a story. But even if it's not a story, because