A Practice Story: Meditation at Work

Submitted by a student in the Meditation at Work Class

In the first session of the Meditation at Work program, we were given instructions on the posture and how to settle the mind by keeping our attention on the breath. We sat in chairs for about thirty minutes. During the entire time, my mind wandered constantly.

When I returned to work early that afternoon, I decided to begin a task that I had put off for some time. For several weeks, I had resisted working on this document. I felt that it would be a boring job that would take several days. I was not interested in the subject matter nor did I feel it had any urgency.

But on this afternoon, none of the old feeling of resistance was present. I just sat down and started working on the document. Time flew . Three hours later, the job was done. During the entire time, I had not felt boredom, nor had I felt distracted or anxious. I was amazed that just one thirty minute period of meditation could produce such a significant change in my attitude towards something that I had not wanted to do for a long time.