Posts Tagged ‘meditation’

The Path to Peace is Inside

Posted: May 1, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
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Wherever you go, there you are.

If there is one thing I have learned that I cannot get from the outside world, it’s peace of mind. I guess that’s why it’s called inner peace.

When external events are going well or are neutral, but there’s still negative thought streams with strong, negative emotions attached to them…there is one’s spiritual practice.

Can we learn to dance in the rain?

It’s hard right? Certainly not a default setting for the average human. Even someone who had a good upbringing in a two parent house hold is likely to be a slave to their moods. Mental and emotional well being is rarely if ever directly taught, one must seek it out on their own.

Is it common for people to seek inner peace when things are going well?

External things going well is the most common thing that is confused for inner peace. They’re called good times for a reason. But it is preferable to build the arc before the rain comes.

That wasn’t me. I had to suffer at great length and depth before I even thought to take action to change my mental and emotional state(s) by addressing my mental and emotional health. It was probably around the same time I started physically exercising to improve my physical appearance as well. Correlation is not causation, but there’s something more than just coincidence there.

Does one ever actually achieve a permanent state of inner peace? Boy would I love to be able to give a definitive answer on that. Unfortunately though, I am just a human being. Made up of flaws, stitched together with good intentions. But we all need goals to chase.

Meditation and mindfulness have helped me stay on something resembling the right path during dark times. Studying philosophy has helped me guide my ship through troubled waters. The combination of the two help the good times last longer, and help me savor them more.

Awareness is the way out. Meditation helps cultivate that awareness. Gratitude helps one stay on firm footing and I’ve found that philosophy helps one to move with more confidence in a beneficial direction. At the very least, the combination helps a person not make things worse when times get tough.

Peace really does have to come from and be cultivated within. I lived many years in a state of inner chaos. It’s hard to describe. Like 10% of a concussion, for an extended period of time. Some people live their entire lives in that state. It eventually drives anyone crazy who is in that state long enough.

Seeking inner peace is a quest worth undertaking. The juice is worth the squeeze. It’s both not easy and not a cure all. Because the external world will still impose it’s will on you whenever it wants, as hard and as fast as it wants. But having that inner calm, that state of inner peace, even just a little of it, even for just a little bit, is worth it’s weight in gold.

Being Aware of Being Swept Away

Posted: March 26, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
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It is not just easy, but normal and natural to get caught up in our thoughts and emotions. We don’t even notice that we’re swept up in them until time has passed and we’re in the same physical position for x amount of time.

I think this is why doom scrolling became engrained in the culture and human nature so fast. Scrolling through social media is the external manifestation of our internal scrolling through thoughts, emotions, memories, and projections.

Awareness kicks in eventually for most people. Often times after an amount of time passes that we’re ashamed to admit to ourselves or to anyone else.

“I was spacing out for how long?!” “I was scrolling through Instagram for how long?!” Two sides of the same coin.

Awareness is the way out. But like everything else, it must be cultivated. Cultivated through repetition. Practice makes progress. There is no progress without repeated action consistently, persistently. Easier said than done, just like everything else in life.

Meditation has helped me to cultivate my self awareness. Journaling has also helped me to cultivate awareness, as long as I occasionally review past journal entries so I may become aware of potential patterns of detrimental thought, emotion, and/or action.

Any journaling is better than no journaling. We have too many thoughts in our head to not take some time, some of the time, to just vomit them onto paper with a pen or pencil.

Any meditation practice is better than no meditation practice. We are too scattered brained to not take some time, some of the time to find stillness, focus on our breath, and attempt to bring inner state into alignment with the present moment.

Both journaling and meditation are put to better use for us when they are done purposefully. Mindless writing with no review can be called journaling. Sitting with our eyes closed, with new age music playing in the background, while we think aimlessly could be called meditation.

To cultivate our awareness, so we can break the cycles of getting swept away by detrimental thoughts and emotions; journaling with review of past journal entries, like extended breath focused meditation sessions with a mantra; are more useful tools to bring about the results we are looking for when engaging in self improvement practices.

Neither of which are one and done magic pills. No such thing. I still find myself getting swept up in thoughts and social media scrolling. Just five minutes before I started writing this essay I found myself standing next to my workstation, scrolling on my phone, unable to remember why I even picked my device up.

I do know I caught myself quicker than I used to. I know I get sucked into salacious social media content less often.

I know I still space out and get caught in streams of past memories and future projections. I also know I do so less often and for smaller periods of time than I used to. Even compared to this time last year or this time last month.

Little by little. One day at a time. One step at a time. One choice at a time. One action at a time.

Awareness is the way out.

Practice Makes Progress.

New #Meditation, New Me, Temporarily, For Now

Posted: March 19, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
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I started meditation because it seemed like a natural extension of a yoga practice as well as a good cool down from the physical exercise that a yoga session can be. I was able to habitualize a regular meditation practice, years before I was able to habitualize a regular yoga practice.

I enjoy doing yoga. Especially after a weight training session or on a day that I don’t life weights. At the end of a yoga session I feel good. Often I feel better than I did before I started the session. But meditation, hits different for me.

I feel better during and after a meditation in deeper way than I do post yoga. Not better, just better for me. Better enough that my meditation practice stuck sooner.

I thank the Calm app for that. The guided meditations, to this day, remain the vehicle that has helped me arrive the most frequently, and consistently to consciousness and awareness of the space between stimulus and response.

I’m not describing the feeling adequately. That is the great thing about meditation and other spirituality practices; concepts beyond words.

On bad days, good days, and neutral days alike, when I’m able to break the cycle of thinking, break away from my identification with my thoughts or emotions or life situation, concentrate on my breath, and reach a place of inner stillness and awareness, even if it’s just for a couple of seconds…that’s the good stuff. That makes the practice worth it’s weight in gold.

That feeling makes me feel like I’ve shed my skin and become a new person on the spot. It feels like coming home again. It feels like putting on all of my most comfortable clothes. It feels like breathing again after being under water.

I certainly wish I was able to get to that place more consistently and for longer. But, we all need goals to chase. I am grateful for every micro second I have spent in the awareness of inner stillness. Just to be aware of it is a blessing for me. Then to feel it and know it, and to know myself for the first time. Tremendous feelings. Gratitude for sure.

Taking my meditation practice off of my cushion and into my daily life was a long delayed happening. For the longest time I just sat, focused on my breath a little, and thought with my eyes closed and a guided meditation playing in my earbuds.

To get into a true meditative state, or even a reasonable facsimile took a while for me. Many times now I simply settle for breath awareness, noticing I’m stuck in my head, or identifying with emotion, and coming back to the breath. Which is also a blessing for me.

Being able to notice I’m identified with my thoughts and being able to break free and come back to breath awareness makes me feel like a new person. I can simply remember the long period of my life where I was completely identified with my thoughts, my emotion and my life situation. The majority of people are.

I still get caught up. Meditation isn’t a magic bullet. But it is an aide. An aide for the mind. An aide for our emotions. An aid for our soul. An aide I am grateful for.

Living for our Present & Future vs Our Past

Posted: March 9, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
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Living in the present moment sounds so simple, too simple perhaps. If it was easy for people to be present, rather than identified with their thoughts, emotions, and/or memories, the world we live in would be unrecognizable.

Our past makes us who we are. What led us to this very moment in time? Our past. For better and for worse. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Our past choices became habits became patterns became the way we lived our lives. Many people live life unaware of this fact and even more are unaware that we can choose.

Meditation has been a life saver for me. Those close to me have heard me say that many times by now. Meditation helped me break the hold of identifying with my thoughts, my emotions, and as Eckhart Tolle says; my life situation.

We are not our thoughts, we are not our emotions, we are not our life situation.

What a wonderful concept. A moment of internal liberation. If only it was a one time, permanent fixing, magic pill, cure all. Meditation is not a magic cure all. Nothing is. The discovery that I am not my thoughts, I am not my emotions, I am not my past trauma was the beginning of awareness.

Awareness is the way out. Becoming aware was the first step, of the first day, of the rest of my life.

Step by step, day by day. One thing at a time. One choice at a time. That is how we live in the present moment. That is how we live for our future self that we would like to become. That is how we separate ourselves from our past, our trauma, our inapplicable teachings, our perceptions that no longer serve us, our old ways of doing things.

It’s just like most things in life; simple NOT easy.

Sure we can try, but what happens if we fail? What happens if we don’t try? What happens if we succeed? What happens if we sabotage ourself? What happens if we give up? We happens if we achieve mastery? What happens if we try, try, try again and nothing external changes?

First, gratitude. Always, gratitude. Gratitude is gravity. Gratitude is glue. Gratitude is what you lay the foundation on top of.

Then…

Step by step, day by day. One thing at a time. One choice at a time. We choose, to do what we can, with what we have, to the extent we are capable of doing.

Change is hard, change is slow, change can be painful. If the opposite were true, the world we live in would be unrecognizable.

So we have to forgive ourself. We have to accept ourself. We have to love ourself. We have to support ourself. We have to cheer on ourself. We have to champion ourself. Life can be hard enough. Change is made harder if we are hard on ourself.

Simple NOT easy.

It can seem overwhelming. It can seem insurmountable. It can seem impossible. That’s why we do things of this nature;

Step by step, day by day. One thing at a time. One choice at a time. One breath at a time.We choose, to do what we can, with what we have, to the extent we are capable of doing.

That is how we live in the present moment. That is how we live for our future self that we would like to become. That is how we separate ourselves from our past, our trauma, our inapplicable teachings, our perceptions that no longer serve us, our old ways of doing things.

Simple NOT easy.

Worth a try.

Presence, Present, Granted & #Gratitude

Posted: February 6, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
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Stop and smell the roses.

Stopping and taking a deep breath is more pragmatic and less cliché.

It is human nature to dwell on the negatives and focus on the outcome/result. This tendency robs us of so much positive potential.

Things could always be worse. Modern technology emphasizes how much better things could be as a foundation for trying to sell us things. But that technology also allows us to see how worse off we could be compared to millions or in some cases, billions of other people.

Others having it worse doesn’t invalidate our problems or our feelings. Power positivity becomes toxic when it tries to make us feel bad about feeling bad. But just because we feel bad in a moment, doesn’t mean we have to make that negative feeling our dominate personality trait.

In some of my darker moments, it has been of real help and real value to look back and see how far I’ve come in my life journey. Some of the accomplishments, some of the fun times, some of the rewarding experiences, some of my day to day habits that were once long term goals.

It’s human nature to take things for granted once we get used to them. Meditation and mindfulness practice has helped me with this. Present moment awareness and gratitude go with meditation like peanut butter and jelly. Breaking the cycle of constant thinking, dis-identifying with any negative emotions, being able to be grateful for who I am and for what I have are small wins each time I meditate.

Philosophy has probably helped me more with this particular aspect of life. A study of philosophy is a study of human history. Stoicism in particular has helped me greatly when I slid into poverty. Shifting my focus from what is outside of my control to what is within my control. But also comparing the ancient world to the modern world, one can’t help but feel grateful for many of the pleasantries and technologies that were unimaginable in the from the eras of Aristotle and Marcus Aurelius to the days of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Electricity, indoor plumbing, refrigeration, clean cold drinking water, access to a variety of fresh foods year round, climate controlled shelter. Those basic amenities are still to this day foreign luxuries to many people in the world.

It is not just easy, it is natural to take things for granted when we are used to them. We face many challenges each day and night. Being human isn’t easy. But we face and handle external challenges as best we are able to. So perhaps we can internally challenge ourselves; to swap out taking some of the basics in life that we take for granted, with gratitude.

List out a few of those things to be grateful for. Either in internally, out loud, or on paper and before long, one has an affirmation practice going. Keep that affirmation practice going, keep actively being aware of all the things we have to be grateful for, and a weird thing happens…we start to have more and more to be grateful for.

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