April 2025: Why Meditate?
In a hurried world, in a busy life, with so much to attend to, why spend time meditating?
The enigma of meditation: Focus to open, Slowing to grow, A discipline to be free, Simple yet transcendent, A journey in stillness, A flow both in and out.
growing awareness
Why would anyone spend time just noticing? If life is a fast treadmill, stopping to meditate may seem bizarre.
But life can quickly become too much - meditation settles our mental state. It resets the megahertz. That is an immediate benefit.
A regular discipline does much more. Slowly, we sense better what is within and outside of ourselves - and, importantly, without judgement. Our character grows in equanimity, more aware, noticing and accepting.
So the daily discipline of re-finding a meditative state develops our capacity to shift mood, choose how to react, soften stress before it builds up. It creates greater sensitivity, and space for reflection. So life becomes calmer, more insightful, richer, broader.
take 5 …
Like learning a musical instrument meditation is tough at first, but then skills grow.
Meditation is very simple, in truth. All that is needed is to hold focus upon an anchor point – the breath is a classic.
Try this: as you breath-in be aware of the body, and as you breath-out be aware of whatever you hear around you. When the mind wanders, notice where it has gone and come back to the breath and noticing.
… and an experiment!
Beginners: the trick is to establish the habit – at the same time, every day, spend 1 minute practising the above. Once a week, try going longer than a minute.
More advanced: awareness is, for me, the bedrock practice, but one can add other forms of meditation to one’s routine – for instance conscious gratitude, contemplation (e.g. meditation on a question or statement), intention setting, flow state (aware of what is within and without simultaneously) etc.
Try bringing the sensitivity and equanimity of meditation into everyday life.
quotes …
meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
the ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness ~ Abraham Maslow
that which is in me lives in the whole ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
ps
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Roddy