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I know why people meditate.
I don't. Meditate, that is, but I know why people do. They focus on their breathing so they don't have to focus on what the Ayatollah is forcing on his people in Iran. They focus on their breathing so they don't have to worry about the 5th person to die from swine flu in Utah (or the hundreds to die from regular flu.) They breathe and don't worry about the incoming governor's not accepting global warming as a scientific conclusion and what that might mean for the future of the state.
They breathe, and count, just like my mom used to tell me to do when I would lose my temper as a child. "Count to ten little lady and watch your tone with me!"
They breathe so they don't have to feel the disappointment of being ignored by their children or the pain of being disrespected by their coworkers.
And I should clarify - it's not that meditators don't tbink about these issues or feel these feelings. They just don't get stuck there. They breathe and let it all go. Out into the atmosphere, like so many greenhouse gases.
