Session 5: Meditation as a Lifestyle
Awakening to The Moment
Meditation calls us to be present with the moment. Bring your practice of staying in the moment into your meditation time as well as your life. The rewards are an endless discovery of the gifts that life is offering us from one moment to the next. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes I wrote in my early twenties.
“In between all of our greatest moments the miracles are still happening”
Being in the Moment Calls you to:
- Give up the fantasy of your mind. It calls you to, release your desire to escape this moment to be entertained by the commentary of your mind
- Be willing to accept what is happening right now
by releasing your need to change what is happening around you
- Often, I would try to make the moment fit what my mind thinks it should be
- I would reject what was actually happening around me
The benefits of Staying in the Moment
- You show up for your life.
- We catch the miracles taking place around you.
- You can notice when you are getting stuck in your mind and your feelings/emotions.
- You become innocent, my definition of innocence is “the pure radiance of your being”
Letting Go
Letting go is something that is applied in our meditation practice repeatedly.
How do we let go and why do we hang onto so much?
- It’s your ego that is holding on. It loves to replay things and hold on often out of habit more than necessity
- Your soul holds nothing, when you get out of your mind there is nothing left that is hanging on
- So it’s your mind that hangs on. A great deal of people are stuck in their minds, thus the reason its hard to let go
- Hanging on has very little to do with the moment
- If your in the moment you are in a constant loop of letting go to experience the endless presence of this moment now
- Your brain is running on automatic pilot so are your mannerisms and behaviours
- A conscious life is one that is aware of all our actions and reactions
- We learn how to let go by becoming a witness to your mind and everything that is unfolding around you.
Holding your Focus
This is a big topic in your practice of meditation and the practice of allowing your meditation to become a lifestyle. Liberating yourself from your mind and emotions has everything to do with your ability to maintain your focus. This is the first part of the equation.
Holding Focus
Your ability to hold and maintain your focus takes more than a desirous or dedicated mind. Most of my life, I was unable to resist the urge of following my mind and emotions, I was on an endless goose chase.
We are taught and praised that multi-tasking is an asset, a favorable quality to posses. However, in truth, you can never really multi-task, all your really doing is rapidly switching your mind from one task to another. A good question to ask yourself is, how many times in a day am I managing several tasks at a time? Training yourself to hold a steady focus, calls for you to slow down your impulse to jump from task to task.
Training Yourself to Hold a Steady Focus
How you train yourself to stop your mind from doing this is to:
- Notice how your mind likes to jump around. For example: You could be working away on the computer or sitting watching tv and next thing you know you are on your phone scrolling through FaceBook or Instagram.
- Notice when you have an urge to change what your doing. When it does, surrender your urge.
- Take this practice into your meditation.
- When you sit down to meditate, turn your focus on. Make it laser sharp and maintain your intention of holding it steady.
Directing your Attention
This series has told you where NOT to direct your attention more often that it has guided you how and where to directed it. Several times I have alluded to holding your attention on the most silent part of yourself, I would like to define that a little further.
The Practice of Directing your Attention
Now that we have guided you to release your focus and attention on your mind and emotions, next you take the step inward. When I say attention, I’m referring to where you are pointing your focus. You have the ability to point your focus anywhere you choose. If your focus is pointed at what you feel, your experience becomes of one the senses, or if your attention is pointed at your mind your experience becomes one of your mind. However, if you begin to point your focus on your soul, your experience drops into the vast awareness of who and what you really are. The reason why we point our focus toward our soul is that this is where the silence within resides. In the vastness of the soul we discover the, “Roaring silence.”
You may be wondering; how do we find our soul? This may sound somewhat abstract to some. We get there through the heart. For the heart is the threshold of the soul. The heart is the sacred chamber that puts us in touch with everything. I talk about this in my book be love. The heart doesn’t want or need rather it knows, it knows everything because the soul communicates with your heart. When you maintain awareness of the your heart you walk through the door into the silence.
Heart Centered Meditation
Here is a heart centered meditation that you can do with your eyes open or closed. The practice and use of this meditation will make a dramatic impact on your ability to rest in the eternal peace that resides in you. When life gets difficult or your day goes to crap, go to this practice. Resist the urge to go to your mind. When your having the best time of your life, go to this practice as well.
Closed Eyed, Heart Centered Meditation
- Close your eyes and breathe slowly, release any tension you may be holding in your body. Give yourself permission to let your mind be.
- Now bring all of your attention to your heart area as you continue to breathe.
- Hold your focus on your heart and just watch, become a witness to what you see without responding.
- Allow your inner ear to open and just listen, become a witness to what you hear without responding.
- Allow your sense of inner feeling open up without grabbing hold of what you feel, again; become a witness to what you feel without responding.
- You do all of this while holding your focus and attention on your heart.
- Keep surrendering and letting yourself go inside of this practice.
For an open eyed heart centered meditation, do the same as the above just keep your eyes open.
Below is all the sessions are in the links below.
Session 1: Introduction to Meditation
https://umatter.blog/2019/03/19/session-1-introduction-to-meditation/
Session 2: The Mind and Meditation
https://umatter.blog/2019/03/20/%EF%BB%BFsession-2-the-mind-and-meditation-by-ned-burwell/
Session 3: Emotions and Meditation
https://umatter.blog/2019/03/25/%EF%BB%BFsession-3-emotions-and-meditation-by-ned-burwell/
Session 4: Meditation Styles and Techniques
https://umatter.blog/2019/03/25/session-4-meditation-styles-and-techniques/
Session 5: Meditation as a Lifestyle
https://umatter.blog/2019/03/25/session-5-meditation-as-a-lifestyle/