But what if I CAN'T MEDITATE? (video)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Mingyur Rinpoche (tergar.org)

To be able to meditate, start when you are unable to meditate. Soon you will (dailymail.co.uk)

.

"Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a moustache. You won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, it will come looking for you."

- Thai Meditation Master Ajahn Chah

.

Hold on, I'll meditate in a minute, I'm busy.

In the meantime, let us sit until we still. Sit still to get still. It doesn't make sense, but it's true. For example, a Buddhist Publication Society writer once pointed this out:

"The only way to stop smoking is to stop smoking." He observed that whenever he wanted to be a nonsmoker, it first required not smoking. He had to be a smoker-not-smoking. Then eventually by restraint he became a nonsmoker.

Of course, he wanted to smoke even though he wanted not to. What he really wanted was to not want to.

I want to meditate. I want to be the sort of meditator (who regularly meditates) who wants to meditate. But I can't meditate! (I can't seem to get myself to "meditate" in the sense of seeing a sign, magical powers, bliss, total calm, absorption, the coming together of the factors of enlightenment, ease of one-pointed attention, keen interest in the meditation object, etc.) What am I to do?

Sit. "Meditate." Try. And by keeping trying, it will come about. The way to sit is to sit. Let's take Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche's advice on HOW to do what we think is impossible.