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.

Twice the Joy: Half the Stress

Modern neuroscience is beginning to explain how our thoughts make fundamental changes in the brain and in the way we view the world. The lab results and clinical studies don't change anything about mindful practice but the findings do help to motivate the skeptical to meditate.

 

Cabanas in the Courtyard at Straw Valley

By practicing the distilled essence of mindful meditation, we put ourselves in the path of greater happiness, love and wisdom. And from my perspecive, the greatest benefit of all is a greater sense of self worth and inner confidence.

In our practice of Artful Meditation and Fierce Qigong, we give up worry, sorrow and anger, and begin to experience inner calm, quiet joy and ready compassion. All that is required is an open mind and a willingness to give it a try. The beauty is that we don't even need to try hard--simply practice when you can and the benefits will follow. Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but they always arrive in direct correspondence to your practice level.

Change Your Habits: Change Your Life

It is easy to be controlled by habit. Our neural pathways take in far more information than we can analyze and one way the conditioned mind deals with information overload is to look for patterns. Turns out that the mind is so incredibly efficient at finding patterns, that it routinely finds them even when no patterns actually exist.

Patterns become encoded into habits to make it easier to respond to the tsunami of stimuli. The result is that when someone says "food fight," we begin jumping around and waving the hands. Well, it is possible I suppose that it's a different trigger and response for you personally, but you get the idea.

When an intriguing new idea comes along that we would like to try in our lives--it might be that we decide to stop smoking or we might even decide to stop burning--doesn't matter what it is really. The point is that we decide to give it a try but then we run up against habit. The new behavior is not in our repertoire and we find it exceedingly difficult to follow through with our plan.

This idea of habits was discussed recently on Hugh McLeod's blog, which is a location that I strongly recommend. Many good ideas there. You can find it by clicking here:

Hugh's comment perfectly encapsulates the message: "Habits eat good intentions for breakfast." Please remember, all the credit for this comment goes to Hugh, not me.

Habits have both a trigger and a response. A best way to change a habit and make it a useful tool rather than an obstacle is through mindfulness. Why? Because we often aren't even aware of our habits and how they control our lives. Through the art of paying close attention to what is happening in our lives, we shine light on those habits and clearly identify the ones that don't work for us any more--assuming that they once had a good purpose.

When we identify the trigger that leads to the habitual response, we simply replace the old response with the new one. Now when someone says "food fight" we respond with the healthier new behavior.

Over the next few days, we will be discussion specific meditation techniques for retooling those old habits. Watch for the label: Change Your Life.