David began a 30-day daily meditation experiment on April 6, 2009. The original post is here. David’s progress log is here.
Well, the first official Raptitude experiment has come to an end. I just got up from my final meditation session. As far as I can tell, I am not enlightened. I can neither hear the mountain stream nor make the sound of one hand clapping.
But I will never be the same.
If you’ve ever had trouble meditating, you might appreciate this account.
I have wanted to try meditating on a daily basis for a long time and I am glad I did it this way, accountable to you, the reader. Because let me tell you, if I didn’t tell anybody I was trying this, I would have quit in the first week. I’ve left detailed entries in my experiment log, but I’ll recap the highlights here.
That first week was rough. I could not decide on a method, so I tried a few, with discouraging results. On Day 5, I decided to settle on a (seemingly) simple and well-known method called vipassana. I think I even announced in my progress log that my confusion about methods was over, because I’d found plain instructions for a tried and true method. Hah! Read More
If you read Raptitude you’ll see me talk a lot about moments. By the end of this post you’ll understand why I use that word so much. I grew up thinking the word moment referred to specific instants in time, usually where some significant event occurred. There were historic moments, life-changing moments, poignant moments, tense moments, touching moments, Kodak moments. They were events to be remembered, reminisced about, or photographed.
Whatever they were, they held you captive. Everything else seemed to drop away, and you just watched. They seemed to be isolated from the normal, linear course of time.
As for the rest of life, it just seemed to be the normal, steady current of ‘stuff.’ Some fun, some pain, some hope, some confusion, some excitement, some tedium. Same same but different.
When I was twenty, desperately leafing through some forgotten self-help book, I came across a peculiar line. Read More
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David on April 1, 2009
Photo by r.f.m II
Well, it happens sometimes.
I find myself in a lousy mood. Hard to say where it started, but it certainly has something to do with not getting much sleep Saturday night. I had big plans for Sunday, but the day was compromised by my zombie state. I think my IQ shrunk about thirty points from normal, for the whole day. I did everything wrong. I cooked badly, I conversed badly, I wrote badly.
My funk cruised on through today too. Work was a real slog, even though everything I needed to do was easy. I was working outside, which I normally enjoy. I wanted to go home. I wanted some Belgian chocolate. I wanted the Sun to f**k off.
Today I was going to write a more in-depth post on another topic, but when I sat down to do it, it was like pulling teeth. I know I could have churned out something, but it would have been a crusty, callous little post. I just couldn’t resonate with what I was had planned to write about, so I asked myself The Big Question: “Given my dreams and goals in life, what is honestly the smartest way to spend my next 30 minutes?” My answer came: Write about what you can resonate with right now. So I decided to put my crap mood to good use. Read More
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David on March 30, 2009
When I was a teenager I might have identified money as my most valuable resource. I don’t think that’s extraordinarily naive, I mean it did always help to bring me the things I wanted: freedom, influence, power, comfort, beer. It’s so versatile you can do just about anything with it. More money meant more ease, more pleasure, more happiness.
As I got older and busier I learned, as many do, that time trumps money by a long shot. One can use time not only to make money, but also to build the capacity for making more money in less time, by improving skills and setting up streams of income. Not only that, but extra time gives you the temporal space to enjoy the privileges and powers you already have. More time means more freedom, more options, and less stress.
Unlike money, everyone is ultimately on a level playing field when it comes to time. We all get the same allowance of twenty-four hours a day. Just as there are ineffective ways of investing your money, there are ineffective ways of investing your time. Read More
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David on March 25, 2009
“Children are all foreigners.”
-R.W. Emerson
Children have a precious talent. They become enamored so easily, and by anything. Take a walk through a park with a young child, and it doesn’t take long before he’s stopped, crouched on the side of the path, captivated by a red leaf or line of marching ants. Wide-eyed and oblivious to you and everything else, he just watches. He’s become enraptured by a curious sight that is — to him — a miracle.
About six years ago, when I was at my most miserable and unpleasant, I remember being asked by a concerned family member, “Well when were you happy?”
I had to think about it. “When I was a kid,” I answered, vaguely aware that it was not really an exaggeration. In particular I remembered the feeling of sheer abundance of summer break: sixty straight days of nothing but exploration and imagination. Read More
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David on March 19, 2009
It’s one of life’s best highs. That certain freshness you find only in new experiences. Getting off the plane in a new country, settling back as the lights dim before the movie starts, driving your new car off the lot.
Of course, it soon goes stale. We’ve all had the experience of excitedly tearing the gift wrapping off a new toy, only to be bored with it a week later. Even adults do this.
Why is it only that good when it’s new? And is there any way of finding that freshness in something that isn’t brand new?
I’ve discovered a few ways, but the one I’m about to share is especially interesting. Read More
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David on March 17, 2009
I'm David and Raptitude is a street-level look at the human experience -- what makes human beings do what they do, and what that means in real life.
I write about how to make sense of the earth's most ridiculous animal, how to get better at being one of them, and how only those two things can save the world. 
Wow, this was so inspiring, David! Thank you!