Meditation
By Lanny Keithley
Throughout this year, my articles have focused on freeing up the mind to limit the negative aspects of your life and increase the positive ones. They have offered suggestions in dealing with difficult areas of life and making the best use of your available resources. This month's article will address the tool to help make your mind function better and more clearly in any and all situations - Meditation.
In my experience, few topics have had more negative and misleading information distributed about it than Meditation. Most folks don't know what it is except that it is a bad thing. Most of this ignorance comes from it being viewed as mystical, religious, and foreign in nature. They might link it to the crazy, long haired, bare footed, and robed Hari Krishna people that lived in airports chanting and begging for money, decades ago. Or, they might envision some cult, or remember the old Transcendental Meditation stuff that was so popular with the Beatles and all the folks on the "A List" back then. All of these things are from an era that many people would like to forget.
In my church a few weeks ago, my Pastor was talking about a friend of his, that was known to the congregation, and mentioned that back then he was into Meditation. The crowd made this "o that's too bad" sort of groan, which impressed me. The subject has been out of the news for many years, but folks still have this negative attitude about it - whatever it is...
So, I am writing this month's article about Meditation to provide a realistic understanding about what it is and what values it can offer to everybody. It has been one of the most valuable tools in my life and can also be in yours, with very little work involved to learn or practice.
To start, we must understand what Meditation really is - and what it is not. It is one of the most simple self help tools that exists. I can completely define it in one sentence, are you ready for it? Meditation is focusing the mind on one, and only one, thing. There, that wasn't so bad was it?
There are no social, political, organizational or religious parts to it at all. It doesn't require any tools or props to do it and it can be done without any formal lessons or training, though there is a lot of information available out there that can be used to provide an overall understanding. There are also training classes available for learning "How" to meditate, but regardless of the path you take, it really comes down to one thing - stopping and focusing all the thoughts that are usually going on in your mind.
It is something that is done only by one's self, and cannot involve anyone else, by definition. Anybody can do it that has the ability to think and it will provide wonderful benefits to any and all that practice it. It doesn't take years of practice before you gain the real benefits of doing it, as so many other activities do. You realize tangible benefits each and every time you do it - even from the first time. Do I have your attention now?
First, let me explain the benefits and values you get from practicing Meditation. In many of my previous articles, I have mentioned or eluded to the concept and value of mental 'free time' - time that you are not feeling it necessary to think or be concerned about many other things than the one thing you are currently doing. In today's time and lifestyle, most folks are constantly worrying or thinking about many different things all the time. This is tiring, frustrating, and ends up causing problems - both physical and mental in nature. And, the insidious part of all this thinking and concern is that it is almost entirely negative in its results, while detracting from the one thing that you are actually doing at that given moment.
The most dramatic illustration of this concept would be something like text messaging while driving. Most people would agree that is not good. But, those same people, while not really doing the texting, will allow themselves to be thinking about it and a few other tasks that might need to be done. These "extra" thoughts detract from your concentration on the real task at hand, that being driving your vehicle, in this example, and can have the serious consequences to you and others around you.
Meditation is the tool to train and teach your mind to focus on the one thing at hand, and not continually get involved and consumed in all the things that your mind feels might need consideration for the future. It's very simple to do and the benefits are immediate, so let's get into how it works.
You need to be in a quiet place with minimal distractions. This will make it easier to concentrate. Then, you need to select one thing to focus on. This can be anything that you can visualize, but not something that you would analyze in thought. You wouldn't want to pick something that had many facets or features that you might end up pondering on individually. This is to keep your focus on a single thing/concept and not think or change your mental image of it. Some classic objects include a candle flame or a single thing of nature. When, you select a real object to focus on, this is called 'with Seed' in the meditation world, the seed being the object you selected. There is also meditation 'without Seed'. This is focusing on nothing, or no specific object. You can focus on the red light you see when you close your eyelids, for example - which is what I usually use. Anything will do as long as it is something you can focus on, without producing thoughts.
No matter how you choose to do it, the technique, effort and result is the same - to keep all your concentration focused on the object you have selected. As you are focused on the object, you will find your thoughts wandering off onto other things. When this happens, just mentally say 'no', and refocus on your object. It will happen over and over again at first, and can be frustrating, but keep at it and you will be rewarded. It is said that the mind is like an impatient child that doesn't like to be told what to do, and must be dealt with accordingly. When the child drifts away, you must sit them back down and re-focus them on the task at hand. Soon, the child will learn to obey. The mind is no different than the child, as it is use to having its own way.
After some time, which can vary from moments to many minutes, depending upon your mind's level of acceptance and your evolving ability to focus, you will enter a very calm and peaceful state of relaxation. This is the State of Meditation and what this is all about. This 'place' is very enjoyable and desirable, as you will see once there. Stay in this state as long as you can. The longer you stay in this state, the better and more relaxed you will feel.
After you have enjoyed this state for whatever length of time you can spend, it is wonderful to use this heightened state of awareness to work on specific things you might desire. It is a very creative place and you have much more of your mental capabilities available to you then. If you are a religious person, it is a good time for spiritual work.
When you do stop your meditative state and continue on with your normal activities, which you just do by picking up with what you want to do - there is no trance or anything like that at all. For something so maligned in our society, there is no downside to Meditation. It is something you can do almost anywhere, anytime, and for any length of time. It can be used to bring you mentally back to a focused state, when you are out and about dealing with the craziness of today's high speed world.
The feeling of peaceful calm relaxation in this state of heightened awareness will stay with you a little while at first and will continue to grow in length over time. You will be more competent in anything you do and will have your mind focused on doing the task you are working on. You will feel better in all aspects of your existence.
