The Discovery of Meditation…
As a counselor, I constantly hear the phrases “use self-care,” “take a mental health day,” and “use stress management techniques like mediation.” At first, I thought how will this work for me when my mind is constantly consumed by thoughts? How will I be able to quiet my mind enough for meditation? With all these questions, I began feeling more anxiety and stress. Yet, inside me, I knew I had to give meditation a shot—I wanted to discover a deeper connection with myself and find peace of mind.
As I attempted my first meditation, I quickly discovered someone new. This personturned out to be the most important personin my life. This was the one personI will always have the most intimate connection with while in this physical body—my Higher Self. This changed my life as I began rediscovering who I truly am. It now serves as my guiding principal for everything that has unfolded in my life. Meditation brings forth one of the greatest gifts—being able to bring your Higher Selfback into your life.
What Is Meditation?
Meditation is an inner journey of yourself, which allows you to move from a state of outward activity to your inner stillness. As humans, we are constantly “doing” rather than simply “being.” Meditation gives us the opportunity to refrain from remaining busy doing things to allowing us the opportunity to just BE. It’s our beautiful reminder that we are human beingsnot human doings. Through meditation, you are able to guide your mind into quieter levels of your thinking process. You will be able to fall past your thoughts into discovering the perfection that YOU are and have always been. This is the perfect YOUthat has been hidden by layers of stress, fatigue, toxins, doubts, fears, false beliefs, confusion, and societal constructs.
Typically, meditation is taught as a technique for stress management because as we all know reducing stress, fatigue, and toxins in your life is important for overall wellbeing. Many believe that the health issues in our world today are due to the increased levels of stress, fatigue, and toxins. As you make your inward journey through meditation, your mind and body begin to settle down until you experience a deep state of rest. Through rest, our body naturally heals. It is during that time that the body throws out what does not belong within it such as stress, fatigue, and toxins. By meditating, you are able to distress and detox your mind and body as you open the gateway into manifesting a happier, healthier life.
Yes, meditation is a powerful remedy for all the stress and toxicity of our world, but I do not believe that is the true purpose of meditation. In essence, I believe the true purpose of meditation is the spiritual awakening and enlightenment it brings forth. As you make meditation a regular practice in your life, you begin to understand your interconnectedness with everyone and everything in our physical world. It also allows you to reconnect with your Higher Self(YOU). Due to all the challenges in our world, we have been taught to view ourselves, others, the world, etc. as separate from us. However, this false belief of being separate from yourself, each other, Source, and the Universe begins to dissolve as you meditate. A deep sense of peace and harmony will come forward. Unconditional love begins to blossom allowing deeper understanding and compassion. Meditation reestablishes your connection with the Divine, or Source, as it awakens you to higher states of consciousness.
Why Meditate?
There’s a space between any of the thoughts you think. Think of it as a “pause.” If there was no space between your thoughts then everything would be happening all at once in your reality. This space holds two very important qualities when it comes to meditation.
The first quality of this space is the silence. If there was no silence, or pause, then the next thought would come immediately. The second quality is that this silence is not empty, but instead filled with infinite opportunities. Our thoughts tend to follow certain predictable patterns that have been conditioned by your memories, desires, and societal impacts. However, it is between two thoughts that the opportunity for another thought is created. YOUthink the thoughts, which means YOUare the thinker of the thoughts. The only place where YOUcan be is within the spaces between your thoughts. Your soul’s core of who YOUreally are at the most intimate level is located in those spaces between your thoughts. So who YOUreally are is the silence and infinite opportunities because your Higher Self(YOU) is found within the spaces between your thoughts.
Meditation allows your awareness to settle into the higher levels of thought until you reach the point where you have fallen into the spaces between thoughts. At this point, it allows you to dip into the silence and infinite opportunities as you stumble into finding your Higher Self.As you fall into the spaces between your thoughts, you are able to bring to light the silence and infinite opportunities back into your reality. You have now begun the restoring of the memory, or awakeningof who YOUtruly are.
When you make this back and forth journey through meditating daily, you begin to integrate your soul’s qualities into your everyday reality. As you begin to reconnect with your Higher Selfin the silence, you will be able to remain calm and think more clearly throughout the daily noise and chaos in your reality. From this point, infinite opportunities present themselves, as you break down the walls of limitation that you’ve created based on habits and conditioning. Freewill becomes stronger and you begin making choices that align and resonate with YOU.
As a result
As you make positive lifestyle choices such as managing stress, health, diet, exercise, etc., your overall wellbeing will naturally improve. Your relationships will become more harmonious and meaningful when you live your life from your core. You will start feeling healthier and happier as a result. The benefits of meditation, even the spiritual benefits, as I discussed here can be noticed in the first day or weeks of beginning your daily practice. Manifesting the spiritual benefits of meditation will take a little longer; but once you do, you will experience the life-changing benefits and the awakening of higher states of consciousness. Your relative world will begin to merge with your inner world of your Higher Selfas you achieve enlightenment.
5 Common Meditation Questions
As you begin you meditation practice, here are some answers to questions you may have.
- Will I get any benefit from meditation?
Yes, everyone can benefit from meditation. Whatever your goals and interests, meditation will support all aspects of your life. It will help you to overcome challenges and discover your path to greater fulfillment.
- Will I be able to meditate?
Yes, anyone can meditate. The mantra is a thought. If you can think a thought, you can meditate. By virtue of the fact that you are reading this, you qualify.
- How long will it take for me to experience the benefits?
The benefits begin from the first time you meditate and continue to grow as you continue with your regular practice. Because the changes are sometimes subtle, you may not notice them immediately but they will be there. Be patient and with regular practice, the magic will unfold in your life.
- Is meditation part of a religion?
No, meditation is a spiritual practice. Although it doesn’t belong to any religion itself, it will enrich and deepen the beliefs and understandings of followers of any religion.
- When I learn to meditate, will I need to change my lifestyle?
The only change necessary is to find the time to meditate regularly every day. All other changes will happen gradually and naturally in perfect timing for your personal growth.