I recently came to a valued awareness about my meditation practice. While I have meditated off and on for the last 30 plus years, getting myself to sit on a regular basis has been a struggle. Why did it feel so difficult and why was I avoiding a practice that I felt was beneficial to my wellbeing? The answer is in the word “struggle”. I became aware that I was using words such as “struggle” and “hard” to describe my experience with meditation. When I became mindful, i.e. aware of my self-talk, the realization came. I was making my experience of meditation unpleasant through my lack of neutrality. With neutrality or “no-effort”, the judgment factor has been released and meditation has become as simple as closing my eyes, relaxing, noticing my breath and bringing kindness to whatever arises. A wonderful metaphor for life.