Originally posted Wednesday, May 31, 2006
i used to think it was impossible for me to meditate cuz my perception of meditation was going totally inside my head, blocking out all exterior noises and "talking" to god or whatever. so i said, "I can't do that, but i do just sit and contemplate."
duuuUUUuuuh. come to find out, that's all meditation is. contemplation. just sitting still and letting my thoughts and feelings go wherever they wanna. but not THINKING - you know, not daydreaming or worrying something or making lists. it's recognizing thoughts as they pop up, pushing them aside and going back to just listening to everything in and around me. heartbeat. breathing. people within earshot. birds. cars driving by. cattle lowing. dogs barking. children down the street. airplanes overhead. all of it.
i have realized meditation is, for me, kind of like listening to a symphony. where i can listen to the sound as a whole or i can lightly focus to single out a specific instrument while still enjoying the whole. at the same time, i absorbe but disregard all other ambient sound. but i don't think about it. i gently squash or set aside any coherent thoughts when i listen to music choosing, instead, to simply immerse myself in the deliciousness of the complexity of sound. no wonder music makes me feel so wonderful. i've been meditating all these years! *eyeroll*
so - if meditation and not-mainstream-faith or -spiritual or -religious practices wig out whoever you share your life with, you can accomplish meditation by simply curling up on the couch, putting on some yummy, soothing music and closing our eyes or gazing out the window. the other person(s) will think you're daydreaming or just "getting into the music" when what you're really doing is the daily ritual of maintaining your spirituality and the health of your body and soul. i've done this while traveling on a train. i'm sans music, but gazing out the window is a great way to meditate and folks generally leave me undisturbed when i appear to be "wool gathering." give it a whirl. it sure can't hurt anything. and do it once or twice a day!
i used to think it was impossible for me to meditate cuz my perception of meditation was going totally inside my head, blocking out all exterior noises and "talking" to god or whatever. so i said, "I can't do that, but i do just sit and contemplate."
duuuUUUuuuh. come to find out, that's all meditation is. contemplation. just sitting still and letting my thoughts and feelings go wherever they wanna. but not THINKING - you know, not daydreaming or worrying something or making lists. it's recognizing thoughts as they pop up, pushing them aside and going back to just listening to everything in and around me. heartbeat. breathing. people within earshot. birds. cars driving by. cattle lowing. dogs barking. children down the street. airplanes overhead. all of it.
i have realized meditation is, for me, kind of like listening to a symphony. where i can listen to the sound as a whole or i can lightly focus to single out a specific instrument while still enjoying the whole. at the same time, i absorbe but disregard all other ambient sound. but i don't think about it. i gently squash or set aside any coherent thoughts when i listen to music choosing, instead, to simply immerse myself in the deliciousness of the complexity of sound. no wonder music makes me feel so wonderful. i've been meditating all these years! *eyeroll*
so - if meditation and not-mainstream-faith or -spiritual or -religious practices wig out whoever you share your life with, you can accomplish meditation by simply curling up on the couch, putting on some yummy, soothing music and closing our eyes or gazing out the window. the other person(s) will think you're daydreaming or just "getting into the music" when what you're really doing is the daily ritual of maintaining your spirituality and the health of your body and soul. i've done this while traveling on a train. i'm sans music, but gazing out the window is a great way to meditate and folks generally leave me undisturbed when i appear to be "wool gathering." give it a whirl. it sure can't hurt anything. and do it once or twice a day!
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