For years I would try to sit and meditate because I'd read/heard that it was helpful for dealing with the mind. It is definitely NOT my thing (the sitting part). lol I think many people, myself included, believe(d) that meditation is about eliminating the thoughts in your head. That's only partially true.
If you're a "sitter" and you sit long enough, that may eventually happen. It doesn't help that most people are under the impression that the "ego" is bad and so the elimination of thoughts becomes paramount. The best way to do that if that is your goal is to just say, "Thank You" to your self when you do have a thought come up. That way, you're not pushing anything away and you're appreciating the parts of you that come up. I don't advocate putting thoughts in a box or behind a door and locking it or anything else of the like because you wouldn't do that to a child or your lover would you? Ego is our "inner child" and "beloved".
I think most people who meditate are not aware of the purpose. Some are and those are the ones that have done some study about it; however, for most of us it becomes about "getting rid of". At least that's how I used to think about it.
The purpose of meditation is to connect to what is REAL in us; the Love in us. There are a multitude of ways to accomplish that. It's about being present in every moment; being mindful or filling your mind with presence.
I discovered through rock climbing for a solid year that it kept me focused on just what I was doing because, if you are NOT mindful while you are climbing, you could be falling to your death. I discovered it's a great way for me to meditate. Actually, any kind of moving activity, even just walking, is the best way for me to meditate. I'm aware that I just need to stay mindful with whatever it is I'm doing. Riding my bike is a good one because the roads have gotten so crowded with cars where I live that you HAVE to be mindful or some idiot from a big city where they don't have a lot of bikes on the road is hitting you! We have lots of bike lanes and bike paths here in Boulder so it's very easy to get around that way. I LOVE being back on my bike!
Being mindful means being fully present and not letting your mind wonder to the "next thing". You're not living in the past lamenting over some perceived mistake and you're not living in the future worrying about it. If you are mindful and focused on what you are doing, the thoughts are just not there.
I've found that if my mind keeps bringing something up that I think I need to pay attention to, I write it down for later so my mind can let it go. I appreciate that part of myself that brought it to my attention, write it down and let it go.
Mindfulness also allows for intuition to be more present. I get "reminders" all the time when I'm fully present about things I'm about to forget, like grabbing a doggie poop bag before I go out the door with a dog or something else I need to do IN THE MOMENT for things to go smoothly. I always thank my Self for that also. Writing things down is for the stuff that I need to remember LATER.
People that are not mindful are often "spacey" or disconnected; not grounded. We need to be grounded for intuition to be known easier. We are electrical beings so we need to be grounded to make the connection between Earth and the resonant field of our Heart to effectively be led by our inner guidance. If we're lost in space, we're disconnected and it's a lot harder to "hear" our inner guidance. We're also too easily taken advantage of by our own ego and other egos. When you're present, you're aware of EVERYTHING that's going on around you!
Being grounded allows for the perfect balance of ego (reason, logic and critical thinking) and Heart (Love and Empathy) to create Compassion. Compassion is not just Love by itself. It's the yin/yang balance of both logic and love. This is what I have found. Compassion says, "I love you and I know you can solve this problem on your own". There is NO interference or doing for the other person. That serves to only disempower. It doesn't mean we can't give advice that is WANTED and vice verse; we don't give advice that is not asked for. Compassion listens, gives empathy and also knows to mind it's own business unless invited.
I have only come to this conclusion in the last couple of days... call it a "download" if you will. It makes sense to me. After I got this "download", I had to think about it somewhat to find the logic in it. Love by itself is the feeling. Compassion is Love the noun BECAUSE it includes integrated parts of our ego. Ego can understand Love because it's ego we are teaching whenever we learn anything. The Love in us; our Core Selves knows everything. We also need to take care in what we teach ourselves especially when it comes to love because ego is so good at using our own knowledge to deceive us if we are not aware. KNOW THYSELF is the most important aspect of Loving yourself. I can't emphasize that enough!
Knowing yourself is two-fold. Knowing who you are on a spiritual level so that you learn to trust the inner guidance that already knows the path we want and knowing your ego so you always know what you're up to! lol It's important to be able to laugh at ourselves too. I find myself to be quite hilarious!
Ok... I think I'll stop here because as you can see, it's all connected and I'm getting into Compassion and I really wanted this to be just about meditation and what that has become for me.
I have been able to sit still for Vipassana which is another form of Meditation but it's more than that also. See the earlier post about that.
If you're a "sitter" and you sit long enough, that may eventually happen. It doesn't help that most people are under the impression that the "ego" is bad and so the elimination of thoughts becomes paramount. The best way to do that if that is your goal is to just say, "Thank You" to your self when you do have a thought come up. That way, you're not pushing anything away and you're appreciating the parts of you that come up. I don't advocate putting thoughts in a box or behind a door and locking it or anything else of the like because you wouldn't do that to a child or your lover would you? Ego is our "inner child" and "beloved".
I think most people who meditate are not aware of the purpose. Some are and those are the ones that have done some study about it; however, for most of us it becomes about "getting rid of". At least that's how I used to think about it.
The purpose of meditation is to connect to what is REAL in us; the Love in us. There are a multitude of ways to accomplish that. It's about being present in every moment; being mindful or filling your mind with presence.
I discovered through rock climbing for a solid year that it kept me focused on just what I was doing because, if you are NOT mindful while you are climbing, you could be falling to your death. I discovered it's a great way for me to meditate. Actually, any kind of moving activity, even just walking, is the best way for me to meditate. I'm aware that I just need to stay mindful with whatever it is I'm doing. Riding my bike is a good one because the roads have gotten so crowded with cars where I live that you HAVE to be mindful or some idiot from a big city where they don't have a lot of bikes on the road is hitting you! We have lots of bike lanes and bike paths here in Boulder so it's very easy to get around that way. I LOVE being back on my bike!
Being mindful means being fully present and not letting your mind wonder to the "next thing". You're not living in the past lamenting over some perceived mistake and you're not living in the future worrying about it. If you are mindful and focused on what you are doing, the thoughts are just not there.
I've found that if my mind keeps bringing something up that I think I need to pay attention to, I write it down for later so my mind can let it go. I appreciate that part of myself that brought it to my attention, write it down and let it go.
Mindfulness also allows for intuition to be more present. I get "reminders" all the time when I'm fully present about things I'm about to forget, like grabbing a doggie poop bag before I go out the door with a dog or something else I need to do IN THE MOMENT for things to go smoothly. I always thank my Self for that also. Writing things down is for the stuff that I need to remember LATER.
People that are not mindful are often "spacey" or disconnected; not grounded. We need to be grounded for intuition to be known easier. We are electrical beings so we need to be grounded to make the connection between Earth and the resonant field of our Heart to effectively be led by our inner guidance. If we're lost in space, we're disconnected and it's a lot harder to "hear" our inner guidance. We're also too easily taken advantage of by our own ego and other egos. When you're present, you're aware of EVERYTHING that's going on around you!
Being grounded allows for the perfect balance of ego (reason, logic and critical thinking) and Heart (Love and Empathy) to create Compassion. Compassion is not just Love by itself. It's the yin/yang balance of both logic and love. This is what I have found. Compassion says, "I love you and I know you can solve this problem on your own". There is NO interference or doing for the other person. That serves to only disempower. It doesn't mean we can't give advice that is WANTED and vice verse; we don't give advice that is not asked for. Compassion listens, gives empathy and also knows to mind it's own business unless invited.
I have only come to this conclusion in the last couple of days... call it a "download" if you will. It makes sense to me. After I got this "download", I had to think about it somewhat to find the logic in it. Love by itself is the feeling. Compassion is Love the noun BECAUSE it includes integrated parts of our ego. Ego can understand Love because it's ego we are teaching whenever we learn anything. The Love in us; our Core Selves knows everything. We also need to take care in what we teach ourselves especially when it comes to love because ego is so good at using our own knowledge to deceive us if we are not aware. KNOW THYSELF is the most important aspect of Loving yourself. I can't emphasize that enough!
Knowing yourself is two-fold. Knowing who you are on a spiritual level so that you learn to trust the inner guidance that already knows the path we want and knowing your ego so you always know what you're up to! lol It's important to be able to laugh at ourselves too. I find myself to be quite hilarious!
Ok... I think I'll stop here because as you can see, it's all connected and I'm getting into Compassion and I really wanted this to be just about meditation and what that has become for me.
I have been able to sit still for Vipassana which is another form of Meditation but it's more than that also. See the earlier post about that.
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