Oh so cheesy

If we’re not careful the images we use for meditation can be a bit cheesy.

Pebbles piled on top of each other.

Still pools of water.

The tip of a leaf with a single drop of dew.

If you’re anything like me this gets a little annoying.

For a long time, I dismissed my irritation as a personality quirk. I thought I was just a bit grumpy and don’t like things that smack of new-age quackery.

And whilst this is true - I can be grumpy and don’t feel an affinity for wind chimes - as with many feelings, there’s something worth paying attention to here.

Pebbles, pools, leaves. These images all point to something.

Peace. Stillness. Tranquillity.

And for many of us, this is what we want out of meditation.

From one perspective this isn’t a problem. Meditation does support peace, stillness and tranquillity.

The trouble is that cliches don’t meet us in the messiness of our lives. Instead, they offer a superficial image of what we want without telling us how to get there.

Rather than empowering us, this promotes magical thinking. As if all you need to do is think about rainbows to make the world a better place.

I get annoyed with this as it’s doing a disservice to something I care about. Real-world well-being. Imperfect, half-hearted, confused and ambivalent.

I appreciate the aspirational dimension of cliched images but I want something that lines up with the everyday reality of human life.

That way I have half a chance of making it real.