Photo by Marcus Aurelius: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-sitting-on-a-yoga-mat-while-smiling-6787215/

Do something enough times, and you’ll start to crave it.

That’s what’s happening with Vipassana and strength training and workout classes, plus my favorite slow walks. And it’s happened in the past with being keto-adapted, because it FEELS so damn good!

I’m even starting to feel that with writing. And publishing (here on my blog). Not quite there with Medium just yet, but this is the practice. I’m my own Mr. Miyagi and I am also my own Daniel-San.

To get to The Other Side of Fear, I just need to show up. To keep going even if I don’t feel like it. To train myself that This Thing is not that scary. And what I’m learning is that you begin to crave the feeling of it. Is this dopamine? Anandamide? That bliss molecule? I wonder if Atomic Habits talks about it.

With daily 30 min meditation, I definitely feel antsy if I don’t do it now, almost 15 days in. I recently heard Yung Pueblo talk about how he’s been (Vipassana) meditating 1 hour in the morning, 1 hour in the afternoon/evening time for…get this: EIGHT YEARS! No wonder I feel so much peace reading his words, his books. He used to be addicted to drinking and cocaine, but meditation saved his life. It made him a much more thoughtful, loving person. And what he learned was that his regular 2 hour a day practice of meditation calmed his nervous system so much that he actually gets more things done with more ease.

Surprisingly, I’m starting to feel the same. I used to think 30 minutes was too much. I can’t simply afford the time! I have too much on my plate! I’d feel irritable and antsy when I tried to make a habit. But now that I’m on a streak of 14 days, I just know that today, no matter what, I will fit it in. It’s that important now. Like brushing teeth. I am feeling less anxious about all the stuff I want and need to do. Meditating regularly is like a cellular cleanse akin to autophagy when you fast, cleaning out your cells and preventing disease.

It’s uncanny how you can transform yourself, your habits, just by doing a new habit enough times in a row, and like magic, your body and mind begins to crave it.

I can’t believe I’m beginning to look forward to writing here in my blog again, now (after hitting ‘publish’) EIGHT days in!

This is how you get to The Other Side of Fear.

Keep on, showing up for yourself.


Lily Chien-Davis

I am a writer curious about all the ways we feed bliss into our minds and bodies. With the short time we all have on this earth, how might we be our best selves with ourselves and each other? I enjoy sharing what I am still learning to be a better human.

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