The Kind Life

 

Meditation
By Christopher Jarecki

“I have spent the last few years trying to find a meditation practice. I tried all different kinds and they all have their benefits. I never really knew what meditation was supposed to do exactly.

When you meditate (depending on which kind of meditation you practice, some have you repeat a mantra or some have you concentrate on your breath, etc.) the key is to not think about anything and to clear your mind.  If thoughts come in that's cool, but just try to go back to the practice.

Anyways, if I meditate it gives me practice in trying not to think, and believe it or not if you practice this awhile it becomes really easy not to think if you don't want to....like when you’re going to bed or driving down the road having a fight with someone in your head, you now somehow have this tool in your tool box to kind of shut down the mind.

When Alicia meditates (not very often) she peeks and wiggles a lot.  She usually starts quietly searching for a pen cause she has to write something down.”

A note from Alicia:

In the past I would always write in my journal before I would meditate to clear my thoughts. Now I’m skipping that, because it just takes time away from my meditation. Now I journal just a few times a week, when I feel like it, or when I need to clear my mind. I’ve started meditating first thing in the morning, because a little meditation sets up my whole day. I have no excuse not to do it when I wake up!  Here’s what I do: Before I get out of bed, I take 5-30 minutes, depending on the day, and I meditate...And it feels great. I connect to the universe and feel my heart and breath... And all is good. It’s a great way to start my day!! One day maybe I will be super cool and meditate in the afternoon too. But for now, I’m thrilled to be on this routine of meditating every day that I’ve been on the the last few months!

And yes sometimes, I need to jot something down while I’m meditating, as it’s better to get it out of my system so I can get back to the practice and have a clear mind. Even if I have just one moment of bliss during my meditation, I am thrilled! It is a time for me to be with myself and to be completely quiet. If I start thinking, I just remind myself that it’s ok to be thinking, and then I remember to go back to the breath or the mantra and it just feels good and sets my day up right.

If you are interested in meditation, but just don’t know where to start, there are some great books out there on the topic. Check out these books that have helped me over the years:

-Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

-Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff...and it’s all small stuff - this is not a meditation book, but it's a great spiritual book in general.

-The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life - again, not solely a book on meditation, but it is great and has a whole chapter devoted to meditation.
  
-Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live - amazing for deep, personal growth.  If you have anything blocking or upsetting you, or if you are unsure about the direction of your life, read this one. 
 
 And here’s a video of David Lynch talking about meditation and art... Its great:

Do any of you meditate?  If you do, have you had any great benefits from practicing a certain kind?

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  • Categories: health , guest blogs

I love the David Lynch video, It was really inspiring. I could listen to him talk about Consciousness and creativity anytime, wow...

Hi everyone, I do a 10 minute meditation in the morning and then 30 minutes around 8pm.  I find it quite difficult to meditate too close to bedtime because I experience more feelings of drowsiness which defeats the purpose.  However, if  I do happen to meditate near bedtime I fall asleep really quickly and have a very peaceful sleep, so all good!

I couldn't recommend meditating enough! It can be quite daunting when you first attempt to eliminate thought even for a second, but when you get the hang of it you can quickly feel how beneficial it is.  There is nothing like the relief of a still and quiet mind when life begins to get a bit hectic.smiley-laughing.gif

I have been wanting to start meditation. The last few years I have had everything you could think of on my mind. So I have heard about how meditation really helps to relax you. I am going to start this tomorrow. I am very excited and can't wait. :)

Hello, i,ve read so many books on meditation and eastern philosophy (Yogananda, Vivekananda, the Dalai Lama, Ramakrishna) that I can't count them anymore. Still,  meditating as technique, i,ve practiced very little, which feels like a loss. Never too late, of course.

However, i'm convinced that meditating without the right attitude of honesty, non-violence (in deed and thought), non-possesiveness, the right (kind) diet, care for the other, detachment etc. is a difficult thing! Studying Jainism, I decided to put Karma Yoga before Hatha Yoga, and the right meditation will (hopefully) naturally spring from it as a soft voice, so to speak. Have still problems with always speaking the truth, though. Especially when it comes to little sins...

Thank you for the nice article about meditation, I hope to learn from it, there is so much to learn and life seems so short!

hey i have done eastern philosophy Yogananda, i believe it make me loss and feel better than i do not , every day i  meditate about 5 minutes ,so i think it is just enough .

 

b/r

honeyreplicas.com

  • Jen
  • Jul 31, 2010
  • 39

It is amazing how things come to you when you need them.  I have recently been thinking of trying meditation but didn't know where to start.  And then I read this post.  Thanks.  I started running and training to do my first 5K about 4 weeks ago and found that my day goes so much smoother on the days I go out early in the morning.  I am kinder to myself, my children.  I get more work accomplished and feel that my daily tasks are easier to tackle.  When I run I go into a zone which I feel is much like meditation, which is when and why I have decided to try it.  Anyway, I am going to check out some of these books and see what I can accomplish. 

This is great!  Also, we would LOVE to feature Alicia and the Kind Life at the Women In Green Forum - the nation's only conference focused on women in environmental careers.  How do we get in touch with you? 

The Forum features today's leading women in green!  http://www.womeningreenforum.com

Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/WomenGreenForum

 

Have you tried this book  -- it has very simple guidelines on how to meditate  Elijah Crow - The Silence of the Mind    I found it very helpful for myself

<!-- @page { size: 8.27in 11.69in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -->

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34607176/Elijah-Crow-The-Silence-of-the-Mind

 

by the way, meditation is like breathing, something you live all the time and not just a practice for a few hours

 

try this book

Jeremy

 

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