Monday, March 2, 2015

Meditation - A Practical Way of Life


Once we have taken our morning dose of peace and power, it's important to top up throughout the day. Even a cell phone needs charging if it is to be of any use. In the same way, the battery of the soul needs to stay fully charged. These practices do not need to take additional time from your day: rather it is just about creating good attitudes and habits that can immeasurably improve the experience of life.

A useful spiritual tool to help you manage your thoughts throughout the day is that of 'traffic control': taking a few moments every hour to observe the flow of thoughts through the mind. Is the inner highway far too busy, are there any road blocks? Are you coasting smoothly along the scenic route? Are you in the driving seat, or is your mind running on auto-pilot? Fixing an alarm to go off every hour is a good method to help stop and check the quality and quantity of your thoughts. Once you identify the problem, you can begin to troubleshoot!

The yogi (mediator) is more conscious than the average person of his thoughts throughout the day. He or she pays attention to keep thoughts positive. Wasteful and useless thoughts discharge the battery, and one negative thought is enough poison to kill an optimistic attitude, a positive perception, pure feelings, and loving relationships. The yogi makes every effort to keep his thoughts elevated at every moment, knowing that each thought has a consequence.

Meditation should not be something we just tick off on our list once a day as we might with our daily exercise or everyday chores. It can become a new and exciting way of life, a positive new lens through which we view life in a very different way. This lens does not judge or discriminate, hurt or destroy, compare or compete. It embraces everyone and furthermore, it invites the yogi to enjoy every scene in the drama of life, knowing that each one is a life lesson that can only bring benefit.

As we meditate, we flow with life, we do not resist or control. We breathe meditation. Our persona becomes cooler and calmer. It does not suit a yogi to sit and gossip all day about others or to keep complaining about the world and its leaders! We become more accepting of everything; our heart opens up. Yes, even to that noisy neighbor or heartless boss! When Christ said 'Love thy neighbor', he didn't just mean the one living next door to you, but the one beside you on the bus or train, the one in the other cubicle at work, or in the queue in front of you.

A yogi has no enemies. He knows that each and every person is playing their own unique role. He does his best to perform only good actions that give happiness to all. But even this needs to be understood well. Some people try to make others happy in order to simply feel good themselves. That is not correct. If we come from a place of knowing that we are beings full of unlimited qualities, then our happiness cannot run out, nor do we get tired of giving. And neither does the yogi feel sorrow if someone doesn't accept their good wishes: the outcome is not their concern, and will not influence their stage of positivity.

Ultimately, the yogi will not only create the state of mind that they want to experience, but will positively affect the world and people around them.

If this all seems too out of reach, then just remember that all mediators had to start somewhere, and you may just find that once you begin to apply meditation practically in your life, then your life will naturally and automatically change for the better!

It's time... discover the benefits of making meditation a part of your life. Become cooler, calmer and happier by practising some simple spiritual tools throughout the day and dont forget... to charge that battery.

'It's Time...' by Aruna Ladva, BK Publications London