How would you like more of the following in your life?
LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, SELF-CONTROL
Yep – Us too – Here is an invitation to do just that!
In this blog I want to share with you something about the practice of meditation. The idea of taking up meditation had been on my radar for a long time. People who do meditate regularly and in a sustained way, talk about the benefits of being in the moment, being calmer, being less reactive and generally being more joyful in their lives. Who wouldn’t want more of that?!
There is only one drawback – you have to meditate!! Not so much a problem as a one off – or even 2 or 3 times a week – but if you want to experience the benefits – you have to do this thing every day – for at least 20 minutes – or ideally twice a day. There is no cheating the system, there is no – I just decided to be more present while cooking the tea, walking the dog, doing the on-line Tesco shop. You actually have to sit upright, with your feet flat on the floor, close your eyes and time yourself for 20 mins – I use a meditation app, and you have to do this every day,(the odd day off is OK), and you have to follow the discipline – and that is it.
So here is a bit more about the type of meditation practice I follow, which is Christian meditation – if you want to know more – check out the World Centre for Christian Meditation or WCCM on www.wccm.org
- It requires discipline to sit down every morning for 20 minutes. I don’t always manage it. I sit in the same chair and sit upright and place both feet flat on the floor.
- It helps if I start off with reading a passage, and I tend to use a Laurence Freeman or Richard Rohr daily reflection – you can get them via email. Visit www.wccm.org or www.cac.org and go on their mailing list if you’re interested.
- I set the WCCM app for 20 mins; read the passage; and then close my eyes and settle in. If there’s some busy thoughts and feelings going on, I allow them to rage for a couple of minutes rather than try and ignore them. The act of allowing them in and ‘burning them up’ in a crucible (an image that was shared with me by a fellow meditator), somehow enables me to settle better.
- I then sit for the remainder of the 20 mins. I say the chosen word in my mind; when my mind wanders for the 10, 000th time, I return to the word.
- Sometimes I get caught up in a juicy thought, sometimes it’s just too tempting, and you want to stay with it. When you catch yourself; then let it go and say the chosen word and hold your intention again.
- Do NOT beat yourself up. Just doing the above is all that’s required. It’s not a competition or a race. If you find it hard…do it anyway. Just notice that you find it hard.
- WCCM recommend 2×20 mins per day. I usually manage one.
Benefits
So what have I noticed since doing this?
The act of ‘going in’ somehow makes the natural world seem more vivid. I’ve literally been overcome with joy sometimes at the colour of the leaves or a beautiful sunrise. Maybe I’m experiencing being ‘more present’.
Some of the benefits feel like they can’t be put into words – literally like an expansion in my heart, or a sense of deeper knowing – whatever those words mean. A different ‘felt sense’ (Gendlin: 1981), of my way of being in the world. As I said at the beginning I’m an ‘experiencer’ and not such a heady person. I also notice that I can find a bit more space between an event and a reaction from me. I recently was not allowed to board a flight due to a lack of complete Covid related documentation – and the consequences to not being able to fly were unknown. Yes I was frustrated and annoyed and sad – but I was able to internally ‘be one step back’, and manage my reaction and my emotions. It felt bad that it was happening – but I was OK. And that felt good. And…I did get home – 7 hours later.
There are many different ways to meditate – the WCCM way is just one.
You get to a point when you don’t do it, that you miss it, and somehow the day doesn’t go as well, or feel the same. It becomes more integral to you and your way of being. Then it’s become a discipline and that feels really good. I neither look forward to it nor resist it now – it is just what I do.
Gendlin, E. T. (1981) Focusing. New York, NY: Bantam Dell.