What is Meditation?
Meditation is the feeling of oneness, where there is no separation between you and wherever you place your attention. It’s like you dive into the moment with all your being. You then go beyond the sensations to merge completely with the experience itself.
It’s a Natural State
Meditation can be experienced naturally in many different ways. You get the feeling of deep relaxation with a greater focus and awareness without attachments. You may be contemplating, praying, walking in nature, enjoying beautiful music or romancing your beloved. I could go on and on…
My best times for meditating are early in the morning before the day really begins and just before I go to sleep at night. I keep a journal handy to capture thoughts that come to me as I come out of the meditation. It’s amazing what ideas and visions I’ve been able to activate in my life.
For example, ever since I was a little girl, when I get deeply into a project that I really love, my regular mind stops chattering. It’s like I’ve released it from all its conditioning and stress. A feeling of peace and calm comes over me and nothing seems to get in the way. And, I am able to see the solution to what I’m setting out to do, even before I have begun.
Regular Practice Helps
I realize that I have been meditating much of my life without even knowing that’s what I was doing. Studying about it and taking classes has helped me return to those meditative states in a more conscious way.
It’s important to keep your meditative journals private, even from loved ones. As the poet James Allen says, ‘He thinks in secret and it comes to pass.’ This way you can keep the potential power of these just-forming seed thoughts.
Most people have glimpses of these “greater than ordinary’ moments, but often they are fleeting and soon get forgotten in the turmoil and stress of daily living.
That is why, especially today, I am grateful to have consciously re-learned meditation, so I can access this natural state more easily and deeply.
The Vigil
Before the asking,
Before the pain,
Before the knowing
That life is a game,
Into the world, we go,
Dancing and prancing
Forgetting the Being
Inside our set ways.
Then something stirs us
From our ignorant bliss,
Shows us the insanity
Within our own midst.
‘Ah! Yes!’,we say
‘Oops! Sorry! I Forgot!
Won’t do it again!’
But once again we get caught.
We fight with each other,
Not wanting to be swayed,
‘It’s my turn!’ and
‘It’s only fair!’ we say.
On and on we cycle,
Caught up in life’s fray.
But there’s nothing outside,
They’re just props for the play.
Only when we look on
From the wings can we laugh
At ourselves on display,
And transcend our dramas of the day,
To let lightness envelop,
Infecting all in its wake.
We play with new passion
Keeping Vigil our true sake!