Meditation is a very personal experience with your own true self. The ancient Sanskrit symbol for meditation simply means “to become familiar with." When we become familiar with our true self, we will be able to bring in happiness and joy, serenity and calmness, and a connection with our higher self.
Life is busy, complex, and filled with all our past and our future perceptions of what has happened or what will happen. Our greatest gift is knowing and loving ourselves. This can only happen when we’re in the now. Bringing time to meditate into our lives quiets the BUSY and opens an opportunity to move into the vastness of our soul.
With the gift of meditation, you can experience joy, peace, love, clarity, and calm. Meditation helps you focus your attention and brings your awareness into the silence, stillness, and vastness of the self. We have been taught that we should always be doing something, “no time for daydreamers, no time to enjoy the world around us." Our mind wants to be in charge, so it keeps a stream of projects that need to be accomplished to prove to yourself and others that you are valuable. Our greatest value lies within. Within all our hearts and within our vast creativeness.
The stresses that life produces keep our mind constantly moving and rejecting anything that it does not conceive as valuable. Constant stress takes our attention away from the things that are important, like living.
But why meditation? Because meditation is powerful. Those who have been studied while meditating can lower their heart rates, regulate the feelings of hot and cold, heal the body, and contain emotions. Meditation gives you the ability to still the ramblings of the mind, move into our creative space, and even slow down our heart rate and balance our breathing.
When we are in a state of calm, our energy can be used to focus on healing, problem-solving, and being in the now. When we calm the stress, we begin to become aware of a more purposeful course of action. We become more able to respond to situations rather than react.
Tibetan monks have been studied while meditating; they can lower their heart rate, regulate the feelings of hot and cold, heal the body, and contain emotions. In California, at the Heart Math Institute, studies on meditation and the heart-mind connection have proven the vast improvements people receive from daily meditation.
Meditation opens the powerful pineal gland, which can access the vastness of the universe. As humans, we are just beginning to grasp the power of our minds. This all sounds too complicated and time-consuming and will interfere with my life.
Not so!
Try five minutes of deep, slow breathing. Breathe in joy and breathe out peace. Use a different word as you inhale and exhale.
When you are in nature, close your eyes and be still for a few minutes.
As you’re walking from your car to your destination, slowly breathe in and out.
Pause to notice the sunset, sunrise, or rain. As you are doing the dishes, show gratitude for having had a full meal.
The benefits of meditation are vast!
Releases negativity
Better sleep
Clearer thinking
Connects you with your intuition
Helps you be more creative
Heals body and soul
Calms anxiety
Those who go into deep meditation move into higher dimensions. We do not only receive benefits ourselves, but Gregg Braden has calculated that for every person who holds the heart open and meditates, we can affect over 1,000 people per person. So, within our meditation group of 5 to 10 people, we affect 5,000 to 10,000 people around us.
When I started calling a weekly meditation over five years ago, my neighborhood was loud and disturbing. Now families respond to each other in a kind way. Families play at the park, and there is serenity that you can feel when you come here.
Do you feel the benefits of meditation quickly?
It depends on the person. The more quickly someone learns how to quiet their mind, the more quickly they feel the benefits. Others may enjoy the quiet time and might not fully move into complete meditation. This does not mean they are not receiving the benefits of being in the presence of meditation.
One person who came faithfully every week for over three years told me that for the first time, they did not try to control the outcome and had a breakthrough. This person was trying to think through the meditation instead of just being in the moment and letting go.
When this happened, there was such a moment of wonder. They felt a complete calmness and connection to all around them. It was a matter of letting go of trying to control the situation.
When the mind is finally quiet, you can then really understand the beauty of meditation. However, just being here in the group, this person was receiving. Getting in touch with yourself and being in that space of calm will open up such a different way of seeing life. I encourage everyone to find a moment to embrace meditation.
I also wish to caution that if you are in a group situation, find out about who is leading the meditation, for when you go very deep, you are traveling in uncharted territory. For our evening meditation, I completely cleanse the area of negativity. I cleanse myself of negativity. I cleanse everyone who is coming here of negativity. I put a vast circle of protection around us, and as I take people on this little vacation, I am aware of where their energy is at all times.
I had the opportunity to read an article that Hugh Jackman wrote on meditation. He says:
I let go of everything. I am not Hugh Jackman. I’m not a dad. I’m not a husband. I am one with myself.
I am just dipping into that powerful source that creates everything.
It is not just finding the silence; it is finding the bliss.
It is natural, and you can see it in babies. You don’t need to teach them; they just do it. What meditation has done for me and my family is to take us back to what we have forgotten, which is our birthright to be happy, to be alert, and to actually connect with people in a real way:
I meditated before I hosted the Oscars.
I meditated before I go on stage.
I meditate in the morning, at lunch, and at night.
I meditate when I’m on the set, and the energy is finer.
I am more authentic and able to really listen to people. It has helped me in ways I could never have understood.
Meditation is the purest of nothingness, the ultimate rest. It’s better than sleep.
It sharpens everything, especially your appreciation of your surroundings.
Keep it up, my friends!
Remember, when meditation first started, it was very difficult for people to move into this space without rigid discipline, sitting perfectly still, and sometimes wearing certain clothes and being in a special place. If these things have helped you and are of benefit to you, they are beautiful.
As our human frequencies have increased, we have found that with a simple and easy way, we can tap into that meditation.
I see you, I appreciate you, I honor you
© Care’n Mooney
Comments