Vacations from Cynicism

I’m a very cerebral person and often cynical when it serves my humor. This makes activities like meditation difficult. I can’t simply sit down and grind my thoughts to a halt–they’re always in perpetual motion. This is great for being creative, when you sit down and funnel that chaos onto the canvas or Google Docs. But sometimes you want to turn off the noise. So what’s left for us cynics? The solution, at least for me, lies in activities which are strenuous and too fast-paced for contemplation.

Sometimes they’re activities that you love, but abandoned years ago for dumb reasons. I’ve given myself two weeks to make three of them part of my regular schedule: dancing (Argentine tango), cooking, and fighting (MMA). The cynic, by his nature is an outside observer. Once you stop observing and start participating, you don’t have time for cynicism.

I’ve found this in 3 places:

On the dance floor.

What the cynic sees: What doesn’t he see? Half the people in here are flailing around like a balloon full of coke popped in their belly. And for some of them, this might not be too far from the truth.

What the participant sees: Nothing except the amazing girl he’s chest-to-chest with.

In the kitchen.

What the cynic sees: A bunch of marginally-educated, sweaty guys shouting and chopping things. With funny hats.

What the participant sees: Fire and knives. The chaos of noise, smoke and heat interspersed with brief moments of perfection and pride: “How fucking good is that?” But diluted with humility: he has no time to answer, because he has to start the next plate.

In the ring.

What the cynic sees: “Are those two grown men hugging each other? Now they’re rolling around on the ground, and he just wrapped his legs around that guy’s head. How gay is that?”

What the participant sees: Increasingly less, because he’s starting to black out from a lack of oxygen to the brain. His opponent has a vise grip on a thumb-thick artery.

So, that being said…

How do you meditate?