Day 8 – Grace

I knew it would eventually happen. But it doesn’t make it any easier. I started off fairly focused today. But being tired, keeping the monkey brain at bay was a challenge. Entire thoughts made it through before I was able to return focus. And then… I woke up.

Yep, I fell asleep. As time is something that has been difficult to gauge for me during meditation, I have no idea how to even figure out how long I was out. It could have been a micronap or it could have been a couple of minutes. All I know for sure is that it was less than 17 minutes (most likely under 5 minutes) as I was awake for a notable period of time both before slipping into sleep and after snapping awake.

And now, I need to remind myself that while meditation comes out of eastern practice, I am doing this as a Lenten practice. One of the things I have needed to learn (and relearn and relearn again) over the years of taking on these annual periods of discipline is the ability to accept failure and not allow it to diminish the experience—i.e. to extend grace to myself.