*Originally posted January 22, 2013; edited from the original
Meditation by atsukosmith. https://www.flickr.com/photos/reartcycle/3773892656
When I first closed my eyes in a thoughtful way, I was doing yoga at home, sitting on the wood floor of my living room. In that instant I knew that Universe is all around me. That we are all connected became clear to me. I hadn’t known this before as it seemed to arise from dormancy, springing from seed to flower once I was ready to explore my spirituality. I say the sense of connectedness was dormant because I believe the knowledge was in my consciousness but out of my everyday awareness – in a sense it moved from my unconscious to conscious understanding.
My moment’s epiphany reminds me of Dorothy’s transition from her black and white existence to the world of Technicolor. Oh! how the world shifted, becoming multidimensional, complex, interesting and bright.
Meditation is an amazing activity, which takes us out of our logical brain – allowing us to explore the mind’s adaptable capacity. This allows us to explore love and compassion as we reach for our true nature, which is Divine. Reaching into the compassionate heart segues into our highest potentials.
After my initial experience, there were stretches of time when I didn’t meditate. Afterwards, I began to practice occasionally. Later, I participated in a spiritual group, from 2001-2009, which met weekly, and then monthly, for meditation. Currently I engage in spiritual reflection for 20 minutes daily. Pre Covid-19, I used to meditate on the New York City subway when I didn’t have time in the morning. This is a refreshing practice, which resets me to the present at any time of the day. This strategy allows me to clear my thoughts so that I can concentrate on writing or other creative efforts.
This steady practice develops what I call the muscle, the discipline of shifting into Technicolor. Meditation is a chosen time-in to our deeper self, and a time-out from rote thinking and internal chatter. A client once told me that his 5-minute meditation was like a power nap. I’ll copy that…
*This original essay, from January 22, 2013, is part of my free e-book: “Compassion In My Own Words” that you can download using the following link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/446617
Trust you are enjoying the last days of August ~
Wishing you love & peace,
Linda
