Ways Meditation Can Change Your Life

We can’t imagine what life would be like without meditation. It has seen us through

tough times & many life changes, keeping us sane & grounded & real. Life is challenging enough; we can never know what will come next & only when our minds are clear & focused can we make the best decisions.

How are you able to deal with the madness & chaos that occurs daily? How do you deal with the challenges of life? Meditation is highly misunderstood & often under-rated yet is perhaps what it takes to be a truly sane person. How does meditation affect us? How does it shift our priorities, enable us to make friends with ourselves, to find answers to our questions?

Here are eight ways meditation can make your life more meaningful and enjoyable!

1. Living With Kindness

No one deserves your kindness & compassion more than yourself. Every time you

see or feel suffering, every time you make a mistake or say something stupid & are just about to put yourself down, every time you think of someone you are having a hard time with, every time you encounter the confusion & difficulty of being human, every time you see someone else struggling, upset, or irritated, you can stop & bring loving kindness & compassion. Breathing gently, silently repeat: May I be well, may I be happy, May I be filled with loving kindness.

2. Lightening the Load

In a stressed state, it’s easy to lose touch with inner peace, compassion & kindness;

in a relaxed state, your mind is clear & you can connect with a deeper sense of purpose & altruism. Meditation & medication are derived from the Latin word medicus, to care or to cure. A time of quiet calmness is, therefore, the most effective remedy for a busy & overworked mind. Anytime you feel stress rising, heart closing, mind going into overwhelm, just bring your focus to your breathing & quietly repeat with each in & out-breath: Breathing in, I calm the body & mind; breathing out, I smile.

3. Letting Go of Me

Stillness is always there between the thoughts, behind the story, beneath the noise. What keeps us from experiencing our natural state of being is the habitual & ego-dominated monkey mind. Meditation enables us to see clearly, to witness our thoughts & behavior; reduce self-involvement. Without such a practice of self-reflection there is no way of putting a brake on the ego’s demands. From being self-centered, we can become other-centered, concerned about the welfare of all.

4. Dissolving Anger & Fear

We don’t accept or release our negative feelings so easily; we are more likely to 

repress or disown them. But when denied they cause shame, depression, anger, & anxiety. Meditation invites you to openly meet these places; & to see how selfishness, aversion & ignorance create endless drama & fear. Beneath these is a quiet stillness where you can get to know yourself; this is a wondrous & beautiful experience. Whether you practice for just ten minutes a day or longer does not matter. You are releasing your limitations, while opening to self-acceptance & awareness.

5. Awakening Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself & others. As you sit in

meditation & watch your thoughts & feelings moving through you, you can observe that who you are now is not who you were just a moment ago, let alone a day, a week, or a month ago. Who you, or someone else, was when pain was caused isn’t who you are now. When you experience your essential interconnectedness you see how the ignorance of this creates separation & suffering, so that forgiveness for such ignorance arises spontaneously.

6. Generating Harmlessness

Simply through the intent to cause less pain you can bring greater dignity to your world, so that harm is replaced with harmlessness & disrespect with respect. Harm is usually caused unintentionally, whether by ignoring someone’s feelings, putting yourself down, reaffirming your hopelessness, disliking your appearance, or seeing yourself as incompetent or unworthy. How much resentment, guilt, or shame are you holding on to, thus perpetuating harmfulness? Meditation enables you transform this through recognizing your essential goodness & the preciousness of all life.

7. Appreciating Appreciation

Take a moment to appreciate the chair you are sitting on. Consider how the chair was

made: the wood, cotton, wool, or other fibers, the trees & plants that were used, the earth that grew the trees, the sun & rain, the animals that maybe gave their lives, the people who prepared the materials, the factory where the chair was made, the designer, carpenter & seamstress, the shop that sold it—all this just so you could be sitting here, now. Then extend that deep appreciation to everything & everyone in your life.

8. Being Aware

Awareness is the key to awakening. Through awareness you can see your monkey

mind & all its mischief. Almost everything we do is to achieve something – if we do this, then we’ll get that; if we do that, then this will happen, But in meditation you do it just to do it. There is no ulterior purpose other than to be here, in the present moment, without trying to get anywhere or achieve anything. You’re just aware of whatever is happening, whether pleasant or unpleasant. No judgment, no right or wrong. Simply being aware. Enjoy!

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Another good read & if you can practice meditation, you’ll feel better & you will feel worthwhile in your life. I really need to start practicing more meditation. I do some, but not nearly enough.

Considering how crappy I feel today, I decided that tomorrow’s post will be about the benefits of cinnamon & honey. I’ve talked about garlic from time to time & I firmly believe that eating a raw clove per day prevents many illnesses. Why in the world, I cut back in the winter, is beyond me. A lesson learned the hard way, as most lessons are learned in my life.  I won’t dwell on this as I know this will pass, but I guess I’m entitled to have a “pity party” once in a while…

Have a great Sunday, folks!!!