Monday, February 4, 2019

INTRODUCTION TO MEDITATION PART XIII

FIRING ON ALL CILYNDERS

So you think you are ready to go? Let's take a minute to review and touch on a few other things we haven't mentioned. In exact order I suggest you do the following:

Study or read a bit on Meditation. "Mindfulness In Plain English" is a good starting point. You can read the Dalai Lama but it is a bit dry and convoluted. Taking a class on meditation is never a bad thing. Just remember the sooner you do this the less bad habits you create that need fixed. I starting to golf years ago. Bought a set of clubs, some balls and away I went (sound familiar). After a few years of hitting my balls everywhere but where I was supposed to I decided to take lessons. Needless to say most of my lessons were spend unlearning my bad habits so we could replace them with good. Beginning meditation is something like that. Take some time to learn about what you are about to do and how to properly do it.

Pick your practice. Again, read about the different styles, talk to folks and see what they do. Watch videos. Anything that helps. Try it. If you don't like it, change to another. Remember, this is not a race. Perfect takes practice.

Understand that what you are about to do is a beautiful, marvelous experience and something that you look forward to doing. If it is complicated, stressful or unwelcoming you need to revisit something. Meditation is our friend and an event we should be excited about doing. Sometimes my sessions are so glorious that I hate to bring my mind back to the so called real world. But I've learned that the state of mind during meditation is what helps me get through this thing called life and that the mind on meditation is the real world. If that makes no sense, keep meditating, you will understand someday.

Everyday, everyday, everyday. Practice, practice, practice. Patience, patience, patience. You are about to walk the same path that Buddha walked. An indolent individual cannot accomplish this task. It takes serious dedication and years of practice but it can and should be done.

Stay open to the whole concept of meditation and continue to learn. Even an enlightened one continues to meditate and learn. Don't put any expectations on your practice. If you are meditating to get an answer for something you will probably be disappointed. Meditation is about the Middle Path, no right, no wrong, no judgement no expectation, simply being in the moment. So relax, breathe and enjoy the journey.

NAMASTE