Meditation

Meditation is the lynchpin to all personal growth.  In getting quiet we are able to hear our own inner voices speak to us. In my opinion that is the Divine spark with in us whispering.  It is impossible to hear clearly when you stay busy and focused on your thoughts. Meditation allows you to move deeper into your heart and to stop paying close attention to the thoughts that are flowing through your mind. My favorite meditation teacher is Adyashanti who advises people not to believe their thoughts. He questions whose thoughts they really are–and certainly many of your thoughts are simply things you have heard said to you by others. They may or may not be true.

Meditation can be done by sitting or lying down and simply allowing everything to be as it is as Adyashanti suggests or to repeat a mantra or to focus on your breath or a candle or a flower. Meditation can also be done by walking mindfully or by truly being in the moment as you wash dishes–noticing everything about that experience as if it were the first and only time you washed dishes.  You don’t have to stay physically still in order to meditate but you do need to be completely single minded in your attention to whatever else you are doing.

There is a Buddhist prayer called a loving kindness prayer that I find very soothing and I believe it is healing for yourself and the others for whom you pray. Here is one that I love:

May I be at peace

May I know the beauty of my own true nature

May my heart remain open

May I be healed

May you be at peace

May you know the beauty of your own true nature

May your heart remain open

May you be healed

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May all mankind be at peace

May all mankind know the beauty of their own true nature

May all mankind’s hearts remain open

May all mankind be healed