The 'Result focused' monkey

Some people give up meditation after a few days as they don't see any benefit. Their approach may be self-defeating as illustrated by the following story.

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 daily. The giver said that the plants would produce peanuts in due course.

The monkey was happy. He planted them and watered them. He couldn't sleep well that night, thinking about the peanuts he would get in the morning. 

Early morning, he rushed into the garden and pulled up the peanut plants one at a time, to see how many peanuts each had. He didn't find any peanuts. He was not happy. He replanted and watered the plants. On the second morning, he again pulled them all up but didn't find the 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 to get the results. 

Immediately, a question arises. We need to gain confidence that the process is working and will yield the final result after some time. Otherwise, we might waste 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 in due course. 

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 on 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, or effort! We are only utilizing the wandering times of the mind. Continued practice will show significant benefits for the 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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