Motivate to Meditate
Ignite your heart, clear your mind, receive wisdom
Is your inner world whirling in response to the seeming explosion of global humanitarian, environmental, political and financial chaos? These daily realities ignite in me an array of strong feelings, mixed with questions of responsibility, right action and helplessness. It can all feel overwhelming.
I have found meditation to be a way to bring inner calm and a new relationship with the whirling confusion and upset within me. During meditation I tap into a greater reality, not to avoid “what is”, but to include “what is” in a bigger context of Divine Intelligence and Presence.
Meditation is a major resource to generate inner calm in mind, body and emotions, anywhere anytime. Even 5 minutes of daily meditation practice in a no stress time zone develops your capacity to access clarity and wisdom under more challenging inner and outer conditions. Gradually meditation practice can be increased to an hour a day or more and evolve to become integrated in daily activities and relationships. Life then becomes a living meditation where your choices, perspectives, communication and capacities to act continually evolve. You become an inspiration for those around you. Something to ponder!
Meditation has many forms of expression and experience. A few examples are: Silent sitting meditation where you focus on your breath. Lying down meditation where you focus on the subtle energy movement first in your body, then in your emotions, then shift to awareness of any mind activity, and then shift awareness into great spaciousness. Chanting meditation, where you sound a sacred word or phrase over and over. Moving meditation, where you walk in nature with conscious awareness. Walking meditation where you walk extremely slowly and consciously, aware of the connectivity of every muscle’s response, also being aligned with slow conscious breathing with every step. Free dancing, which can be slow organic movement or any organic pace and flow of free movement. Seeing meditation where you focus on your hand, notice the lines, shapes, slow movement, feel the connections up through your arm, your chest, throat, etc. You can relax your focus on a candle flame or flower to bring you into the present moment and ultimately beyond time and space. Journaling, cooking, gardening, playing a musical instrument, Love making can also become a meditation. There are many more forms to explore.
A guided meditation is a verbal journey that can take you into zones of higher awareness and possibility. “Stream of Love” is a recorded guided meditation journey I co-created with my talented musician friend, Timothy Surya Das. Each listening is a fresh exploration that deepens your experience and knowing of love that truly nourishes you from within. You can listen to ‘Stream of Love” for free at HERE.
My experience is that meditation practice expands my capacity to open spaciousness to include ALL that is showing up in my world, in my mind, emotions, body and beyond. It eventually brings more inner peace, self-acceptance and new possibilities. It puts us in touch with our deeper wisdom, intuition and creativity. When my father was dying I would spend long days with him. I would meditate in his room while he slept. At night I would sit on the floor by the foot of my bed and meditate. I felt a sense of deepening peace and new understandings come through me. Meditating helped me be available to connect with myself and what was truly important. It helped me let go of the stressors of the day so that I could be the most significant support for my dad and my family.
What can motivate you to meditate? Maybe turn your daily experiences into conscious meditations, inviting your deepest wisdom to shine its’ loving magic upon you and those you love.
