I sort of forgot to wrap up the point of yesterday's post: if you want to stick your neck out doing something creative, you're going to feel vulnerable and you may even get hurt. It makes sense to make the rest of life as easy as possible.

Meditation is another great tool for this, not that I didn't turn learning how into some kind of a 'Climb Everest' challenge.

Over the past thirty years, I read a lot of books, talked to plenty of people, took at least one class and spent a lot of time trying to meditate. Finally I gave up: I would never get this.

And then, my dear friend Bernadette, who had been meditating daily for decades, recommended Swami Muktananda's book Meditate. It explained meditation very simply and clearly and encouraged me that I'd been trying so hard, I'd missed the whole point.

One winter day soon after, holding still and staring at falling snow (which happened to be falling straight down, without wind) I effortlessly 'dropped into myself'. Instead of reaching up and out, trying so very hard, by simply internalizing the action of the snowflakes, I was meditating. I made a little video so you could try it for yourself, no matter where you are or what the weather is.