The Art of Living Meditation

In the mud and scum of things, always something sings. – Emerson

Human beings need space to foster an inner life that nourishes and sustains. Without it, the spirit declines and weakens. Living Meditation is a practice that enables us to reclaim a healthy spiritual attitude, which in turn enables us to reach our full potential. Living Meditation is a technique for discovering life in the space between the moments of ordinary living. It is about rediscovering that the ordinary life is extraordinary after all.

Many of us work more than we’d like, we run around more than we’d planned, and we’re called on to do much more than we ever thought would be expected. Too often we feel detached from the things we love most--home, family, friends. 

We think of the time we arrange to respond to friends, children, pets, loved ones, as quality time and indeed it is so. The time we take to tune in to our own needs and respond to them is also quality time. Because it is necessary to take care of ourselves in order to effectively take care of others, this time is beyond quality time, it is crucial time.

The comfort we derive from a spiritually rich environment actually deepens the reserves of generosity we have to draw from for friends, strangers, and favored causes. The more fulfilled we feel, the more likely we are to have the energy to give to others.

In the practice of Living meditation, we rediscover that we are good people who deserve a good life and that good life is is there for us if only we will receive it. Most of us have forgotten this truth. We think that we are not quite good enough and that others seem to know something we don’t. We try to copy the lives of others—celebrities, friends, family, anyone who seems to have the life we want. 

The antidote to these thoughts is love, of course. Love is an amazing commodity that spreads to fill the space available. Treating others to the healing power of love, or a little respect if there is someone you haven’t been able to love, is the way to take care of ourselves. Love’s healing activity spreads outward as we care for the place we live and for the plants, animals, and people who inhabit it with us. 

When you operate from awareness that you are a divine creature and that the time allotted to you is a precious gift, then every activity you engage in is spiritual activity and every moment is precious.