You are a leaf.
I invite you to picture yourself as a fiery red leaf in late Fall, hugging the branch of a great oak tree. Feel the brisk morning sunlight touch your skin, smell the damp moss covering the needle-covered paths below, and listen to the forest creatures singing their songs.
Take a moment and see that the soil, sun, and rain have all participated in creating the great oak tree that you connect with. You experience yourself as a leaf, but you would not exist without the tree.
Okay, now I invite you to come back into your body. Take a moment and reflect on how your daily environment influences you. Your first instinct may be to reflect on your professional, social, and home environments. But let's expand our perspective for a moment.
It may help to leave your body and look down at yourself from above; a non-judgmental, birds-eye view of your avatar moving through the physical world. What do you see from this birds-eye view? Maybe you see the building or town you live in. Perhaps the nearest city. Look down at your body, a little ant moving through the world's maze. Keep zooming out. What country do you live in? What continent do you live on? Which hemisphere? What planet? Which galaxy? In what universe?*
When we take a moment to observe ourselves from afar, with non-judgement, we may see that we are not so different from the leaf on an oak tree. Like the leaf, we are also part of a complex system that relies on our environment for nourishment. Oftentimes, we aren't even aware of how much our environments influence us. This brings us to this week’s idea: the importance of our environment and the power of community.
We tend to focus only on our individual choices and habits in life, and then berate ourselves for not being disciplined or motivated enough for living up to our self-imposed standards. Meanwhile, we have overlooked how our environment is manipulating those choices. As James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, writes, 'motivation is often overvalued. In many cases, the environment matters more.'
Of course, I am not saying that we are exactly the same as a leaf, at the whim of a strong gust of wind or a hungry caterpillar. Instead, I am saying that we must not give ourselves too much credit nor blame for our circumstances. By bringing awareness to the power of our environment, we can make conscious choices to place ourselves in environments and communities that nourish us. We can design our lives in a way that sets us up for success.
In Buddhism, there are three essential elements one must commit to along the path to awakening. They are referred to as the three jewels: buddha (teacher), dharma (teachings), and sangha (community). According to Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, the most important of the three jewels is the sangha. Without the proper community, there is no practice. Without practice, nothing changes.
“A good teacher is important, but sisters and brothers in the practice are the main ingredient for success. You do not have to practice intensively—just being in a sangha where people are happy, living deeply the moments of their days, is enough.”
The strength of our Meditation Monday community is not the meditation practice, it is the community. It is easy to find a new meditation technique. Finding a community of people to practice with, one that encourages you to show up consistently, is a jewel.
I invite you to join us tomorrow at 8 pm ET on Zoom for week three of our 2023 practice. We will be practicing a loving kindness, or 'metta' meditation. If you haven't joined us yet this year, the invitation is always open. The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago; the second-best time is today.
*To complete this thought experiment: Zoom back in. Who do you spend most of your time with? Who are your five closest friends? Who do you follow on social media? What books are you reading? What is the voice in your head telling you?
Our environments are always influencing us. Take a look at your physical, mental, and digital environments. You may not be able to choose the influence of your environment, but you can choose the environment that influences you.