Remembering

Audio file: https://youtu.be/DGBQ0Pxa628

I was facilitating a meditation recently, one focused on calm, peace, relaxation. The usual words we reach for when life feels loud.

At one point, I found myself saying something simple.

You didn’t create this calm.
You allowed it.

And as the words landed, I realized how backward our thinking usually is.

Most of us believe calm is something we generate. That it comes from doing the meditation correctly. From breathing the right way. From quieting the mind enough, long enough, to earn a moment of peace.

So when the calm fades, we assume we failed. We think we lost it.

But nothing was lost.

What many people are really looking for isn’t calm. It’s permission.

Permission to not be okay.
Permission to stop pretending everything is fine.
Permission to sit with discomfort without immediately fixing it or explaining it away.

We’re conditioned to believe something is wrong when we feel unsettled. That we should correct it. Improve it. Rise above it.

So even in meditation, we quietly look for approval.

Am I doing this right?
Is this enough?
Am I allowed to feel this way?

But calm wasn’t produced in that moment. It wasn’t built or manufactured. Nothing new appeared.

What changed was the effort.

For a few minutes, we stopped interfering.

We stopped fixing.
Stopped rehearsing.
Stopped reaching ahead or replaying behind.

And in the absence of all that doing, something familiar was felt again.

Not created. Remembered.

Calm isn’t fragile. It doesn’t come and go on its own. It isn’t dependent on candles, cushions, apps, or perfect conditions.

What comes and goes is our attention. Our tension. Our attachment to the story that something needs to be different before we can rest.

The calm you notice in meditation isn’t a temporary state you stumbled into.

It’s always been there.

It will still be there after the meditation ends.
After the noise returns.
After the day resumes.

Nothing special is required to access it.

You don’t have to recreate it.
You don’t have to hold onto it.
You don’t have to chase it.

You just have to remember.

And when you forget, that’s okay too.

Always remember to JUST BREATHE.

The Unscripted Mind.

If this landed, share it.
Let it spark a question in someone else.

Just Breathe, The Unscripted Mind website.