All traditions and religions describe some form of enlightenment or spiritual awakening.\u00a0\u00a0Unfortunately most people are spiritually asleep, some snoring soundly.\u00a0\u00a0Meditation is our wake up call, when we rub the sleep of ignorance from our eyes and begin to enjoy the great bounty that awaits us.<\/p>\n
The good news is that we\u2019re all already enlightened, we\u2019re all perfect in every way.\u00a0\u00a0Perfectly happy, perfectly healthy, all our desires are instantly fulfilled.\u00a0\u00a0I know you\u2019re rolling your eyes but, at least that\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to be.\u00a0\u00a0Sadly, the bad news is that we\u2019ve forgotten it and thus live less than perfect lives where we get sick, depressed, frustrate and so on.\u00a0\u00a0Meditation is the journey back to perfection and, in the process, we are showered with its gifts..<\/p>\n
Remembrance<\/b><\/p>\n
Most people spend their lives looking to the external world for happiness and certainly we all have periods when we feel happy.\u00a0\u00a0However, external happiness is rarely lasting and most of the time we\u2019re on an emotional roller coaster – someone pays me a compliment and I feel happy, the next day they ignore me and I\u2019m miserable. Meditation takes us on a journey from external activity to inner silence from the chaos and confusion of forgetfulness to the peace and quiet of remembrance. Remembering the joy and bliss that we always are.<\/p>\n
Infinite Possibilities\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
For the most part, our lives are very limited.\u00a0\u00a0Our thoughts and actions are a result of our memories and desires.\u00a0\u00a0I do an action which creates a memory, this in turn generates a desire, which leads to further action.\u00a0\u00a0For example, if I go to Starbucks and drink a cup of their coffee for the first time, this was my action.\u00a0\u00a0This creates a memory, now I know what Starbucks coffee taste like.\u00a0\u00a0If I enjoyed the coffee, I might have the desire to return the next day for another cup and so the cycle goes on.\u00a0\u00a0Even though we like to think we have freewill, most of the time we repeat the same old habits, the same social conditioning.\u00a0\u00a0We are prisoners of our own beliefs, fears and doubts.\u00a0\u00a0We live our lives like that little hamster running in his wheel, thinking we\u2019re getting somewhere, while in fact most of the time we\u2019re just going round and round.\u00a0\u00a0Our possibilities are very limited.<\/p>\n
Meditation guides us to turn our awareness within, to discover a deeper meaning in life.<\/p>\n
We realize that there\u2019s more to life than just repeating to same things over and over.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s more to life than grasping for material happiness.\u00a0\u00a0The journey to infinite possibilities begins.<\/p>\n
Freedom<\/b><\/p>\n
The teacher and mystic Osho called meditation \u201cThe first and last freedom\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s the freedom we were born from and the freedom we can return to.\u00a0\u00a0When we give up all the concepts, the stories, all the limiting beliefs and constricting attachments, we\u2019ll be free to live the life we were born to enjoy.\u00a0\u00a0Meditation is the key to reconnecting with this life.\u00a0\u00a0Meditation awakens us to what\u2019s already here, always has been and always will be.\u00a0\u00a0As the Sufi poet Rumi said, \u201cI have lived on the lip of insanity, searching for Truth, I was knocking on the door, the door opens, I was knocking from the inside\u201d.<\/p>\n
Silence<\/b><\/p>\n
Meditation is Being rather than doing, it\u2019s being aware, being the observer rather than the doer.\u00a0\u00a0Although we call it the practice of meditation, it\u2019s is really about doing nothing.\u00a0\u00a0Meditation is doing less to accomplish more and doing nothing to have the potential for everything.\u00a0\u00a0When you are doing nothing, you are meditating.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s nowhere to go, nothing to do, just listen to the wisdom within the silence.\u00a0\u00a0Of course we cannot create silence, we can only create noise and most of us are pretty good at that.\u00a0\u00a0However, when we allow the noise to settle, the silence that\u2019s always there, reveals itself.\u00a0\u00a0To quote Osho again, \u201cCollapse into silence\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0When asked why he didn\u2019t give more lectures, Ramana Maharshi said, \u201cThe only reason I speak at all is for the benefit of those who don\u2019t understand the message in my silence\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Although silence is often thought of as something negative or an emptiness, it is actually full of the potential for everything.\u00a0\u00a0It contains the wisdom of the Universe in seed form.\u00a0\u00a0Nothing can touch or disturb your inner silence and only you have the power to enter it, because it is You.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s your Universe waiting to unfold.<\/p>\n
Self-Awareness\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Meditation is to be aware of the present moment and, although it may sound odd, most of the time we are not here.\u00a0\u00a0Our thoughts take us into the future or the past so consequently, that\u2019s where we spend most of our lives. However, we are not our thoughts.\u00a0\u00a0We are the one who thinks the thoughts.\u00a0\u00a0So the only place where the real you can be, is in the spaces between the thoughts.\u00a0\u00a0Meditation takes us to quieter and quieter levels of the thinking process until we slip into the spaces between our thoughts.\u00a0\u00a0Here we rediscover our true Self, the person who we really are and always have been.\u00a0\u00a0The Self beyond the ideas and concepts, beyond the self-made prison, beyond anything our limited self can imagine.\u00a0\u00a0The Self who is always with us, always ready to support and guide us, always watching over us. Meditation means to be aware of what we are doing, rather than being consumed by the doing. When we live our lives with awareness, our whole life becomes a meditation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We regain Self-awareness and enjoy the fullness of life on all levels.<\/p>\n
Oneness<\/b><\/p>\n
In the New Testament Jesus says, \u201cThe Kingdom of Heaven is within\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0In the Gnostic Gospels he says, \u201cWhen you make the two one, the inner as the outer, the above as the below, the male and female into a single one, then you shall enter the Kingdom\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Meditation a journey through all the layers of our life, until we reach the source of everything, Pure Consciousness.\u00a0We realize that everything is Pure Consciousness expressing itself in different forms and disguises.\u00a0\u00a0This is the coming together of all opposites, the end of separation.\u00a0\u00a0Just as the wave has its own individuality but cannot be separated from the ocean, so we have our individual consciousness but, with meditation, realize that we are One with the ocean of Pure Consciousness.<\/p>\n
Forgiveness<\/b><\/p>\n
When we don\u2019t forgive, we are the ones who suffer.\u00a0\u00a0How many times do you hear people complaining about someone who\u2019s been dead for years.\u00a0\u00a0Do you think the dead person is bothered about how the other feels?\u00a0\u00a0When we don\u2019t forgive, we remain energetically connected to the other person and allow ourselves to be drained of our personal power.\u00a0\u00a0The deep rest we receive during meditation allows the stresses to begin to dissolve, bringing the growth of acceptance, understanding and compassion.\u00a0\u00a0We move beyond fear, anger and resentments and once again take responsibility for our own lives.<\/p>\n
Love<\/b><\/p>\n
In our essence, we are Pure Love.\u00a0\u00a0Sadly, nowadays, most people have forgotten how to love and who to love.\u00a0\u00a0As the Indian poet Tagore said, \u201cWhile God waits for his temple to be built of love, men bring stones\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Fear contracts while love expands. Meditation reconnects us with the infinite<\/p>\n
so the heart expands fully and once again we fall in love with all creation.\u00a0\u00a0When we learn to truly love and think from our hearts, all good things spontaneously flow into our lives.<\/p>\n
Home<\/b><\/p>\n
Life is a long journey and like any journey, sometimes we may feel lost and confused.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s been said that all sickness is some form of home-sickness.\u00a0\u00a0Meditation takes us to that safe secure place deep within.\u00a0\u00a0The place where the storms and conflicts of life can no longer touch us.\u00a0\u00a0The place where we can rest, nourished and nurtured.\u00a0\u00a0Meditation is our journey Home.<\/p>\n
Meditation has many, many gifts to bless all areas of our lives.\u00a0\u00a0The the greatest gift anyone can give themselves is the gift of meditation itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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