By Lcid Crescent D. Fernandez
I had a professor during my first year in the UP College of Law. He was a brilliant man who taught us Persons and Family Relations, but he had a unique dimension to his teaching style. At the end of every class, he would have us meditate in a specific position, either the Lotus Position (cross legged with feet over thighs) if you were flexible enough or the Japanese Seiza (folding one’s legs underneath one’s thighs, while resting the buttocks on the heels). These positions must be held until the end of the meditation process. Those familiar with the positions will know that these are incredibly difficult to hold and gradually increase in pain as time goes on. At the end of the semester, however, you could get bonus points if you could meditate for 30 minutes straight.
When I first heard of these instructions as a freshman, I thought it was nuts. What did meditation or being in pain for 30 minutes have to do with Persons and Family Relations?
I realize now that what he was teaching us was not about the subject matter itself but the marathon of learning and growing as a person – or more specifically – as a law student.
Much like learning any skill, meditation had with it a certain level of discomfort, pain even, at the beginning. You could feel your feet being stretched beyond any normal movement. Your blood can’t reach parts of your body. You begin to lose feeling in your legs. You aren’t even meditating at the beginning because all you’re focused on is the fact that you’re uncomfortable.
Many of us get stuck in this phase. We focus on the feeling of discomfort, of pain, and we retreat into our comfort zone. There is no movement. There is no progress. We find ourselves stuck.
That’s exactly what my professor was trying to show us. He told us to practice meditating every day, a few minutes at a time so you could guarantee your bonus points at the end of the semester.
When you start anything for the first time, there’s always a period of discomfort. It can come as discomfort with the process because you’re learning a new skill. It can come as discomfort with the people you’re learning/working with. It can even just be the unfamiliarity with a new thing. Case in point: everyone is going through this now with the work from home set-up, wearing masks and face shields, and distance learning. Right now, we’re all experiencing this level of discomfort with “the new normal”.
As I’m sure we’ve all noticed, wearing masks has gotten a little bit easier, working from home has gotten a little less burdensome. It’s all just part of the process of growing and getting better.
We get used to the load we carry, and we’re now ready for heavier loads.
At first, you can’t even focus on anything else except the thing that makes you uncomfortable. That’s not your fault. Those are just the circumstances. However, growing and improving yourself to deal with these circumstances are up to you.
Are you going to deal with that moment of being uncomfortable or are you going to retreat back to your comfort zone?
Are you going to hold the Lotus or Seiza position until you get used to it so you can begin to meditate or are you going to stop because you can’t look past the pain?
Law school was about getting used to the daily grind of reading thousands of pages a day. Growing a business is about constantly adjusting to changing circumstances to find opportunities. Self-improvement is a constant process of putting yourself into uncomfortable situations and conquering yourself.
The best of us had to start somewhere, had to be uncomfortable at some point in their life. They became the best by being comfortable with being uncomfortable.
