Lets talk about the M-Word….. Meditation (Part 2)

Benefits of meditation.

The benefits of meditation are vast and many people claim different things from stress relief, lower blood pressure, calmer mood, etc. All of these I have experienced for myself but ultimately it must come from your experience for you to believe. I am not going to try and repeat the same information you can find elsewhere on meditation here. Instead, my goal is to try and convey what meditation does for me.

For me, meditation centers my emotion and energy so that a clear field is left for me to think. By centering I mean it allows me to clear my mind so that I can see what my true desire is. Our minds are so extraordinarily excellent at bombarding us with so many scenarios it can become hard to see the forest for the trees. Basically, our minds keep us so bogged down on details we can’t see the whole picture.

After meditation I see the forest. I see the whole picture. I see what truly matters to me. From this pivot point, I can begin to see how current situations in my life are affecting my true desires. Once I see the effect on my desires, I can then take steps to correct my course. But without the clarity meditation provides me, I get lost in the trees and only see trees. When we only see the tree, we only see how the situation is affecting a specific emotion and not how it affects your overall life.

How many times have we let office politics run our mood and outlook of a job? When, if you step back and look, the bigger picture is so much more meaningful. I can’t count how many times I have heard someone say, I expect to be fired soon and it doesn’t happen. This is typically because we focus on one tree when our lives are actually a forest. So think about every tree in a forest as a situation in your life, good or bad. If you focus on one stressful tree life begins to look grim from the viewpoint of that tree. But when you climb above the canopy, you see the majestic beauty of all the situations that made us who we are.

You begin to notice trails and paths that were specifically laid just for you. We begin to see how specific trees shape, not define, the forest. From this view point, we can begin to see who we are in the context of everything rather than how the context of everything makes us who we are. This is a very powerful place to view life.

This is what I believe meditation does for us. It brings us fifty thousand feet above the forest to see how the one tree shapes our forest and not define it. I hope this makes sense. If not, drop me a line and I would be happy to dive into it with you.

Dang it! Those pesky thoughts keep getting in the way.

Everyone I speak to who is just starting out on a meditation regimen all tell me the same thing. My thoughts always get in the way. As I mentioned before, battling your thoughts begin to make meditation feel like work. Once the effort put in exceeds the benefit, we are left exhausted and frustrated.

It happens to all people, even those who have been meditating for years so don’t feel discouraged. Instead, try this, the next time you begin to meditate and a thought enters your mind, thank it for letting you know about the situation and visualize the thought disappearing.

I like to visualize my thoughts are slides in an old school slide projector. When I acknowledge the thought, I thank it, and ask it go. I see it move along a slide track and into an empty slide. When another thought comes to mind I rinse, recycle, and repeat. Others have told me they visualize the thought as a child tugging on their sleeve trying to get your attention. They acknowledge the child by thanking them for showing them the thought and the child walks away along with the thought.

One technique that works for some is just letting your thoughts roll along like a film reel. However, the difference is, they focus on a mantra, breathing, sensations, visualizations, etc. Using a visualization for focusing can be anything from flying, surrounding yourself with light, spinning light into a vortex, or anything that makes you feel comfortable. Of course, you don’t want to focus on something negative it needs to come from a positive place. I’ll get into visualizations later.

The bottom line is, I, along with many others, have found it much easier to acknowledge the thought, thank it, and let it go. See, the whole point of the thought is it is something your mind has deemed important for you to think about and the more you ignore it the stronger it gets. Our minds don’t let us escape from the sea of thoughts and worries too easily. But part of the secret, at least for me, is to always acknowledge the thought in what ever manner you feel is right for you.

What I have found in my experience is, our mind doesn’t necessarily want us to dwell on any specific thought. On the contrary, our minds want us to simply notice it. The reason for our minds doing what they do is for another post but for now just know our minds are trying to give us every possible option under the sun regarding situations in our lives.

Unfortunately, most of us fall into the trap of trying to ignore or worse try to fight and suppress thoughts our minds bring before us. This only intensifies the effect and thoughts along with many other panicking side effects many of us have felt before. I know I have.

On a business trip many years ago, I was driving to a popular destination during some time I had free. On the way to the destination, I battled and grappled with my thoughts and worries the entire time. I found myself suddenly out of breath, light headed, and felt as if I couldn’t get any oxygen to save my life. I quickly pulled over on the highway because I knew I was about to lose my lunch and lose my lunch I did. I suddenly found myself on the side of a highway projectile vomiting. The honks from motorists speeding by didn’t make it any easier. I got back into my vehicle knowing I had to get to a hospital fast.

I composed myself a bit started the engine and started back on the highway. The entire time feeling like I couldn’t get any oxygen. I felt the air rushing in and out of my lungs but it felt like I was just breathing empty. Such a horrible feeling. By the grace of god I found a hospital within 10 minutes of starting back on the road. I ran into the emergency room and told the nurse “I think I am having a heart attack”!

I was quickly whisked away into an examination room, shirt torn off, and hooked up to an EKG machine. After, a few minutes the doctor came in and told me my heart is fine and I most likely had a panic attack.

This was many years ago and I had no idea then how to cope and deal with the constant bombardment of worries entering my mind. So of course, I swallowed it down and buried it far into the recesses of my heart. I’ve never told anyone about this event in my life out of fear from judgment.

The point, our thoughts do what they want during meditation or in everyday life. Learning how to turn the tables and not let our thoughts and worries run our meditation sessions is key to applying it in our day to day. On our way to work, while we are eating a meal, watching a movie, trying to fall asleep, during a meeting, etc. Our worries hit us without prejudice, especially when you never acknowledge them.

Remember, it doesn’t matter what you visualize when you do it, but when a worry or thought won’t leave you alone, acknowledge it, thank it, and watch it go.

To be continued…….