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.