Why Meditate? Part 4
Welcome to the fourth and final part of this mini-series which explores why meditation might benefit you. If you missed the first three parts, go back to the last blogs and have a quick read. In this part I am going to explore how a meditation practice can lead to you truly getting to know yourself.
As a beginner, the prospect of a quieter inner chatter may seem either impossible or even light years away! As with any new habit we can become disenchanted or forget why we started in the first place. (I always encourage new students to write down their ‘why’ and revisit it regularly). But if we keep going so much can unfold, and perhaps that’s where the magic really happens.
Most people begin a practice to combat stress or improve sleep or concentration. I certainly fell into the stress management camp! What I did not appreciate back then was that really was just the beginning. I had no idea what was in store, and I have been truly awe struck by what I have discovered.
Being able to carve out the time to practice daily has meant that I give myself the opportunity to meet myself every day. The version of me who isn’t doing something, isn’t distracted, and genuinely has no agenda other than simply being.
I have noticed that the gaps in my thoughts can become longer. Not always, I sometimes still have a very busy mind, but often enough I can dwell in a real sense of peace. I am literally not being interrupted or derailed by thoughts or by life.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that peace will come at some other time than now, to somebody else, or that it will completely allude us altogether. Peace isn’t complicated. It is in fact easily accessible and often hangs out with joy. So, if you meet one, you tend to meet them both!
And there don’t need to be any special circumstances, trinkets or arrangements made for this meeting to happen. I’m talking about a bog-standard Tuesday morning. (Life happens on a Tuesday. What will you do to make it a good one?!) But we do, in my opinion, need to set out our store: get into your meditation space, be open with your awareness, practice your acceptance in each moment.
Great things do happen away from ‘formal’ practice, (I have a friend who received a real moment of clarity turning right at a roundabout!) but we need to lay the groundwork. And it is often in the quieter moments that we can gain important insight and understanding.
"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" is a quote from Hamlet. He’s talking to his friends about Denmark being a prison, but what he meant was the prison that he had created in his own mind. Hamlet’s point was that most of what we encounter in our everyday lives is inherently neutral, but our untamed minds judge and label. Things become ‘good’ or ‘bad’. It isn’t that we are faced with innumerable problems daily; it is that we create them by overthinking.
It is a real privilege to experience any moment without all that extra baggage.
I’m aware that some of the longer retreats I attend sound a trifle ‘out there’, but what participants are doing is clearing out the baggage to arrive at a place of total focus, often referred to as one pointedness. It’s then that lucid moments (or longer) of calm can unfold, and we can truly see who we are.
Everybody’s journey is different, but I promise you, you will like what you find. Your own humanity is humbling, inherently good, and waiting to be the most important companion to you on this path we tread together.
Want to begin to tame your mind? Get in touch to find out how I can work with you. From 1-1, to on-demand courses, group classes and events. There really is no better time than now.