On meditation

Meditation (Photo credit: atsukosmith)

Like anything else worth doing, the word ‘practice’ is one word that comes to mind with meditation.  We practice to establish new habits; habits become ways of being.  Quieting the busy neocortex takes practice and, for me, that’s sometimes difficult.  The intellect is a muscle I’m comfortable with. I use it like I use this computer–deftly, habitually, and with comfort.

Over my lifetime the intellect has been something I placed value in, as did my family and the culture around me.  It has also, as it turns out, been my downfall.  I’ve been through periods where stress is high and when I should have slowed down I instead pushed through.  Exhaustion is real and can be difficult to heal from–just like any major illness.  It takes time and prolonged peace and quiet to recharge once you’ve fallen into this state.

I’ve discovered that my greatest thinking and my best creative moments have come from what I would have previously thought was ‘doing nothing’.  I like to paint–taking the time to paint can seem almost counter intuitive in a world that demands accountable activity.  I’m not a professional artist so why bother painting?  It connects me to myself on some very fundamental level.  It quiets me down, language ceases, and something in my being moves quite differently then when I do other activities.

Meditation has happened in my life.  I can’t take credit for it–I’m not a spiritually evolved being in some sense that others are lacking.  It just happened.  And when it happened other things started to happen as well.  Since beginning this practice I’ve read many studies, and with more coming every day, as to the efficacy of meditation.  Often these are from the point of view that meditation can improve one’s ability to ‘multi-task’ or ‘focus’ and many other ‘career related’ benefits.  If this is all that one gets out of it–a way to manage stress and multi-task in a better way, then that’s great.

Meditation offers so much more though.  It is a way to realize one’s full potential as a human being.  Meditation shouldn’t be something stressful that requires great effort. This doesn’t mean that the process shouldn’t ever be uncomfortable, but rather that it happens when we allow it to.  Yet, even simply allowing the space for silence can sometimes be challenging, particularly in a world where ‘everything is available at a stroke’.

At these moments bringing awareness to our breath, our body, the sounds around us, the colour and texture of the item in front of us, these can all help to still the mind and bring us to the present. Many techniques for meditation exist and will help with mindfulness; mindfulness has the capacity to build on itself into something larger.

In this moment, the silky touch of the keyboard strokes my fingers in a pleasing way as the clickety-click of these words appear on the screen.  I become aware now that my breathing is from the chest and shallow.  I hear the neighbours a/c and just now my fridge motor began to hum.  I am aware of the tension in my shoulders and a car passes by with the radio on.  Life, the hum, open air, and at the very least, an awareness now of the innate desire for silence within.