Uploaded August 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
When people first come on retreats, they often fall into grateful, exhausted sleep as soon as they start to meditate. At the least opportunity for calm, their body expresses its needs. This healthy sleepiness is a natural response and has to be respected. In certain monasteries this sleep is called “the poor man’s nirvana.”
When we eventually examine our thought stream with mindfulness, we encounter the inner sound track. As it plays, we can become the hero, the victim, the princess, or the leper. There is a whole drama department in our head, and the casting director is indiscriminately handing out the roles of inner dictators and judges, adventurers and prodigal sons, inner entitlement and inner impoverishment. Sitting in a meditation class, we are forced to acknowledge them all. As Anne Lamott writes, “My mind is like a bad neighborhood. I try not to go there alone.”
𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤:
🪷 Grab an All-Access Plan for Jack’s growing library of online courses at jackkornfield.com/checkouts/all-access-9-week-payment-plan
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When people first come on retreats, they often fall into grateful, exhausted sleep as soon as they start to meditate. At the least opportunity for calm, their body expresses its needs. This healthy sleepiness is a natural response and has to be respected. In certain monasteries this sleep is called “the poor man’s nirvana.”
When we eventually examine our thought stream with mindfulness, we encounter the inner sound track. As it plays, we can become the hero, the victim, the princess, or the leper. There is a whole drama department in our head, and the casting director is indiscriminately handing out the roles of inner dictators and judges, adventurers and prodigal sons, inner entitlement and inner impoverishment. Sitting in a meditation class, we are forced to acknowledge them all. As Anne Lamott writes, “My mind is like a bad neighborhood. I try not to go there alone.”
𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤:
🪷 Grab an All-Access Plan for Jack’s growing library of online courses at jackkornfield.com/checkouts/all-access-9-week-payment-plan
🪷 To stay up to date with all of Jack's offerings, including upcoming events, course discounts, and free teachings, please subscribe to Jack's Email Teachings at jackkornfield.com/newsletter
🌱 Website: jackkornfield.com
🌱 Facebook: facebook.com/jkornfield
🌱 Instagram: instagram.com/jack_kornfield
🌱 X: https://x.com/JackKornfield
