Over the years I have asked many people if they meditate, because I feel it could help them, or spirit feels it would help them to meditate, mostly I get the same answer. Its to difficult, my mind wanders , I have to much on my mind to meditate, I have not got the time to meditate. So I have decided to write this blog, to outline a simple way to meditate.
Meditation is a great way to relax and focus our minds, to find answers to questions, or to calm turbulent thoughts and emotions. The first thing I was taught about meditation, is you cannot have imagination without an image, so meditation is simply day dreaming. And that is something we all do, but unlike day dreaming where our minds create the mental images we would like, such as winning the lottery, or getting a date with a film or pop star, being with someone we miss, or our penchant for looking back into the past, and the many what ifs that arise from mentally living in the past, our minds create the mental images of the most satisfying possibilities.
Meditation is in fact focussed day dreaming, whereby we mentally get the image we want, within our minds eye and allow everything else to take place without our input. A good starting meditation is to imagine yourself sitting alone on a beach, on a warm sunny day mentally put yourself on the beach, focus on smelling the sea air, hearing the waves lapping on the shore, watching seagulls flying above the waves, what other sights, sounds, and senses are you aware of. We only need to meditate for a few minutes to get the benefit of it.
Being perfect at meditation is not the point of meditation, levitating our minds to a more peaceful, higher level of awareness is the aim of meditation. We are exercising mental muscles we don’t often use. But like any exercise, the more we do it the better we get at it, if we are distracted by other thoughts. Like work, or what to have for dinner, financial and emotional worries, discard those thoughts let them pass and get back to your beach the more frequently you meditate, I suggest 2 or 3 times a week, distractions will become less and less.
A simple exercise I use to prepare for meditation, to help focus my thoughts, is what is known as stepping into the moment, this is what I find best do, and works for me.
1, Find a comfy chair make yourself comfortable
2, Shut your eyes and inhale through your nose, and gently exhale from your mouth, this helps relax our muscles and stimulates our minds, to a slightly higher state of awareness, to prepare for meditation.
3, Realise it is only us that makes the noise with our thoughts and feelings, sit quietly and realise that you have peace and tranquility all around you. It is only us that makes the noise so put your thoughts and feelings to one side, it does not matter if a bomb is falling on your house, step into the peace and tranquility of the moment. This can also be difficult to achieve, but the more we practice meditation we will find it easier to be in the moment.
4, Once in the moment or your feeling more relaxed, remember to discard any day to day thoughts, worries. anxieties, aches and pains. Not easy to do but practice makes perfect, I have been meditating for years, and still get distracted but don’t be disheartened, just get back to the image you started with.
Now your ready to visualise where you want to be, it can be anywhere but make sure it is a positive image, like sitting on a beach, or walking down a path in the forest, focus on what you can see. hear, sense, smell, within your image dont tamper with it let it play like a movie.
Meditation teaches us and helps us to discover our trueselves, other than what we have conditioned ourselves to become. Helping us to become a better version of ourselves, so honesty with ourselves is a priceless tool in meditation.
If you the reader meditates using the above suggestions, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me Email- stephen@thelifeandtimesofstevieboy.blog I will be happy to discuss the above steps with you.
There are also many guided meditations you can buy online, I hope this blog has helped. Stephen