The 'Result focused' monkey
Some people give up meditation after a few days as they don't find any benefit. Their approach may be self defeating as illustrated by the story below -
Once upon a time, there was a monkey who was like a supercharged executive. Somebody gave him a bunch of peanut plants and asked him to plant and water them every day. The giver said that the plants would produce peanuts in due course he can enjoy. The monkey was happy. He planted them and watered them same day. He couldn't sleep well that night, thinking about the peanuts he would be getting in the morning. Early morning, he rushed into the garden and pulled up the peanut plants one by one to see how many peanuts each had. He didn't find any peanuts. He was not happy. He planted and watered the plants again. On the second morning he again pulled them all up but did not find any peanuts. He continued this process every day.
When will the monkey get the peanuts?
Moral of the story
Don’t abort the process if you want the result. Immediately, a question arises. We do need to gain confidence that the process is working and will yield final result. If we don't not, we might have wasted precious time. So what are we to do. A safe practice is to look for signs that the process is working. A good sign in the plant would be healthy new leaves appearing on the plant. They would give us the confidence that the plant is growing healthy and would yield peanuts.
Let us apply this concept to ‘Focusing on breathing’ meditation. When you find a little improvement in sleep, you can be confident that it is working. Continue the practice and expand it step by step, as suggested in this website. Every bit of improvement is a precious gain. We are gaining something without investing anything. We are practicing this meditation without investing time, money, effort! We are only utilizing the wandering times of the mind. The practice will show significant benefits for mind, body and relationships. You may see the benefits in a few weeks to months . You don’t have to wait for years. Of course if you are not ready for change, you will not practice. You may maintain the status quo.
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