Why I Nearly Stopped Meditating and the Growth It Brought Me

The less talked about, bitter part of meditation

When people talk about meditation, they generally focus on the calm and peace that meditation brings into their lives.

While I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, after seeing the peace and happiness that has come into my own life, I also know there is a “darker” part to meditation that many people don’t talk about.

To be clear, this isn’t a piece hating on meditation. Simply my effort to share a perspective, from personal experience, that is missing in the greater conversation on meditation that I’m sure many will resonate with.

The bitter

From my experience, as a daily meditator, and from talking to others, I have seen two challenging hurdles that can come up for folks who have a regular meditation practice. First, when we sit and meditate, images, ideas, and reflections on who we are and how we act that we aren’t proud of come up. Because meditation teaches us not to react to these…