If meditation helps us to live our life more calmly, think about its opposite. Imagine that you're late for an appointment and can't find your car keys or your phone. Maybe you are burdened by a deadline at work. Your movements are jerky and your mind is going "a mile a minute!" You can't focus and you are distraught!
Then, before you know it, you knock over your cup of coffee. It spills all over your papers, perhaps your clothes. Things go downhill from there, right?
Remember this tip: "Restlessness is the precursor to failure (disappointment, mistakes, and/or negativity)."
It, therefore, holds that "Patience is the quickest road to success." This well-known axiom encourages us to "do it right the first time!" But only by calm and quiet confidence can we ever truly succeed. And what is success? It is more than accomplishing a goal. True success is the satisfaction of one's conscience and peace of mind. Nor is peace achieved by passivity or fear or refusal to engage in what must be done!
I want to share with you a "peace" of counsel given to me by my yoga teacher. It has guided my life:
The more you seek rest as the consequence of doing, rather than in the process of doing, the more restless you will become. Peace isn’t waiting for you over the next hill. Nor is it something you construct, like a building. It must be a part of the creative process itself.
This brings us, therefore, naturally to the one human activity that most effectively brings to our mind, heart, and body relaxation, calmness, and confidence: MEDITATION! The mental and physical benefits of meditation can be sought for their own sake or as a stepping stone to higher consciousness or spiritual growth. But here, for my purposes, I want to focus on meditation for true success and happiness. In India from which comes to us the science of meditation, there is a famous saying (so representative of its traditional culture): "To the peaceless person, how is happiness possible?" (And I would add: how is success possible?)
Meditation isn't complicated but neither is it easy. Like exercise and diet, it takes will power and intention. But like all other valuable habits, it won't work through guilt or tension. You have to WANT to meditate in order to get to the point where it is ENJOYABLE. Enjoyment and results are achieved after learning how to meditate and persisting in developing the art of it, not just the science of it.
Sit upright but in a relaxed but alert natural posture: chest up slightly; head level; shoulders relaxed; palms upward on the thighs. Open or close your eyes as you feel. (As you internalize it will be natural for most people to close their eyes.)
Take a few long, slow but enjoyable breaths. Let the "stomach" (actually, the diaphragm) expand out as you inhale slowly. As the inhalation progresses you will feel your rib cage expand outward to the sides. Then, finally as you complete the inhalation, the upper chest may rise just a little. Don't force it, however. Like the strokes of the brush of an artist, your controlled breathing should feel "right" not forced.
You may pause briefly at the top of the inhalation but it is not necessary. Exhale with a controlled release. The exhalation can be slightly longer (if you were timing it) than the inhalation. You can pause or not pause after the end of the exhalation but just continue this controlled breathing for at least three to five breaths.
Usually, three to five breaths will trigger a sense of increasing calmness, but if not, continue for a while and learn to anticipate a sense of peace and quiet satisfaction coming over you. Then cease your controlled breathing, and sit quietly. Relax not just your body but your mind. Since the mind is happier if we give it a focus, let that focus be on your natural (no longer controlled) breathing. Observation of the breath is a time honored and universally effective practice. Your observation can be in the chest (lungs etc.) or in the flow of inhalation and exhalation in the natural channels of the nose.
If your mind needs a bit more to chew on, create a word formula or a personal affirmation. I am peaceful; I am calm; I am confident.....etc. etc. Don't TRY to concentrate. Relax into interested attentiveness on your practice. It's the same attentiveness you might apply to watching a movie, reading a book, engaging in a sport or exercise, or cooking--anything, in short, that you WANT to do!
At the end of your time (it's not length of time; it's QUALITY of calm focus and resulting peacefulness), ask your intuitive self a question that might be on your mind. Ask in positive, not negative terms. In your calm state, be open to a variety of responses, even one that your mind otherwise might reject. Feel for what is the right action or attitude to take in that situation. Pose alternative solutions to your intuitive mind.
Or, at the end just bring to your mind the image of a loved, friend, neighbor, or co-worker who could use a little "peace of your mind" for their health or daily life. Send that "peace" to that person without any consideration of desired results. It's a peace gesture, in other words.
You see: it's THAT simple.
Then, before you know it, you knock over your cup of coffee. It spills all over your papers, perhaps your clothes. Things go downhill from there, right?
Remember this tip: "Restlessness is the precursor to failure (disappointment, mistakes, and/or negativity)."
It, therefore, holds that "Patience is the quickest road to success." This well-known axiom encourages us to "do it right the first time!" But only by calm and quiet confidence can we ever truly succeed. And what is success? It is more than accomplishing a goal. True success is the satisfaction of one's conscience and peace of mind. Nor is peace achieved by passivity or fear or refusal to engage in what must be done!
I want to share with you a "peace" of counsel given to me by my yoga teacher. It has guided my life:
The more you seek rest as the consequence of doing, rather than in the process of doing, the more restless you will become. Peace isn’t waiting for you over the next hill. Nor is it something you construct, like a building. It must be a part of the creative process itself.
Meditation isn't complicated but neither is it easy. Like exercise and diet, it takes will power and intention. But like all other valuable habits, it won't work through guilt or tension. You have to WANT to meditate in order to get to the point where it is ENJOYABLE. Enjoyment and results are achieved after learning how to meditate and persisting in developing the art of it, not just the science of it.
Sit upright but in a relaxed but alert natural posture: chest up slightly; head level; shoulders relaxed; palms upward on the thighs. Open or close your eyes as you feel. (As you internalize it will be natural for most people to close their eyes.)
Take a few long, slow but enjoyable breaths. Let the "stomach" (actually, the diaphragm) expand out as you inhale slowly. As the inhalation progresses you will feel your rib cage expand outward to the sides. Then, finally as you complete the inhalation, the upper chest may rise just a little. Don't force it, however. Like the strokes of the brush of an artist, your controlled breathing should feel "right" not forced.
You may pause briefly at the top of the inhalation but it is not necessary. Exhale with a controlled release. The exhalation can be slightly longer (if you were timing it) than the inhalation. You can pause or not pause after the end of the exhalation but just continue this controlled breathing for at least three to five breaths.
Usually, three to five breaths will trigger a sense of increasing calmness, but if not, continue for a while and learn to anticipate a sense of peace and quiet satisfaction coming over you. Then cease your controlled breathing, and sit quietly. Relax not just your body but your mind. Since the mind is happier if we give it a focus, let that focus be on your natural (no longer controlled) breathing. Observation of the breath is a time honored and universally effective practice. Your observation can be in the chest (lungs etc.) or in the flow of inhalation and exhalation in the natural channels of the nose.
If your mind needs a bit more to chew on, create a word formula or a personal affirmation. I am peaceful; I am calm; I am confident.....etc. etc. Don't TRY to concentrate. Relax into interested attentiveness on your practice. It's the same attentiveness you might apply to watching a movie, reading a book, engaging in a sport or exercise, or cooking--anything, in short, that you WANT to do!
At the end of your time (it's not length of time; it's QUALITY of calm focus and resulting peacefulness), ask your intuitive self a question that might be on your mind. Ask in positive, not negative terms. In your calm state, be open to a variety of responses, even one that your mind otherwise might reject. Feel for what is the right action or attitude to take in that situation. Pose alternative solutions to your intuitive mind.
Or, at the end just bring to your mind the image of a loved, friend, neighbor, or co-worker who could use a little "peace of your mind" for their health or daily life. Send that "peace" to that person without any consideration of desired results. It's a peace gesture, in other words.
You see: it's THAT simple.
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