Now if the practice [of meditation] is so good for us, why is it so difficult to maintain a steady practice? It may be that the notion that practice is “good for us” is the very impediment – we all know we can resist what is good for us at the table, at the gym, and on the internet. This mechanical notion of practice – “if I practice then I will be (fill in the blank)” – leads to discouragement because it is not true that practice inevitably leads to happiness, or anything we can imagine. Our lives, like the ocean, constantly change,and we will naturally face great storms and dreary lulls. How then do we put our mind in a space where practice is always there, whether tumultuous or in the doldrums? It requires a completely radical view of practice: practice is not something we do, it is something we are. Seeing our practice as our life, we just let go and do it.

Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, Like a Dragon in Water