Have you ever been on a search for “it?” You didn’t know exactly what “it” was nor how to find “it.” You simply knew “it” was real and was waiting for you.
Have you ever been on a search for “it?” You didn’t know exactly what “it” was nor how to find “it.” You simply knew “it” was real and was waiting for you.
Like others, I yearned for “it” and attempted to seek personal salvation, a rich sense of fulfillment, and a guiding light by pursuing a dogged focus on organized religions, romantic relationships, and career advancement. And, like others, these attempts failed, leaving me with a deeper emptiness and confusion. While I knew each of the subjects of my pursuit had its life-optimizing merits, my experience was that depending too heavily on these for personal worth and happiness was a recipe for disappointment.
My yearning and searching finally led me to “it,” a feeling of inner peace, direction, and awareness via a path that consisted of a rational and what some might consider a mystical approach. The rational aspect of this path I found by way of The 10 Elements along with other analysis tools that I will explore and elaborate on in future posts. However, in this post, I will discuss the more mystical aspect of this path: meditation. As many have discovered, meditation is a way to become mindful, which provides the ability to live more fully in the present. There are many guides available to introduce newcomers to the practice of meditation. My goal is not to add another guide to the list but to describe my personal experience with meditation and share a few links to some of the scientifically agreed upon rewards.
For quite a few years, I knew of meditation, and it was suggested by friends on multiple occasions that I try it. However, I was timid and almost even afraid to start. It seemed, somehow, too complex. Then, I suppose, the internal confusion and emotional pain I was feeling were finally enough for me to give meditation a go.
When I first started meditation, it was not the easiest thing I had ever tried, but it also wasn’t the hardest. It took some time and patience before I started to feel rewarded by the practice. When I did start to get some traction from meditation, I think The Lone Bellow sing it best: “then came the morning.” It was as if dawn had broken through a deep and shadowy forest inside me, a kind of morning light that warmed the inner depths of my soul.
I’m guessing, like most things, how one experiences meditation is relatively unique to the individual. With that said, here are a few of mine:
- While in the meditative state of mindfulness, I experienced a unitary feeling of oneness with all things. I was in a state of “just being,” without thoughts and nagging emotional sensations. I felt an indescribable feeling of love and acceptance by the mere fact that I existed. The concern with self disappeared.
- I found that the experience of being beyond conscious thought provided me an insight that I could take back to my non-meditative state of mind. This insight provided my conscious mind a new perspective that I could use to reframe my feelings about myself and others. My anxieties disappeared as I incorporated the feel of love and acceptance experienced during mindfulness into my daily practice and outlook on life.
- The banishment of anxiety from my perception of the world brought me a new relaxation that allowed me to sharpen my observations. I began to have the capacity to better remember names and to reason clearly and quickly. I was beginning to be able to speed read my social and objective environment. This transformation was so sudden and surprising that it felt a bit like I was a character in a grade B sci-fi movie.
- During my childhood and through young adulthood, it was clear that I was an extreme introvert. Introversion brings with it some gifts but also some definite drawbacks. I did not really notice details of social interactions and, to a large degree, I was oblivious to the motivations that underlay many of the actions of those around me. I did not absorb all the social cues such that I did not always understand nor respond appropriately to the individuals with whom I was interacting. With my new capacity for present awareness and expanded consciousness, I decided it was time to overcome this problem. A cheat-sheet was needed, so to speak. Thus, The Key & Blueprint was born, allowing me to rationally interpret the motivations behind the actions of both myself and the individuals in my social world.
- I noticed the critical self of the conditional ego, the part of me that observed a virtual scorecard in my mind indicating when I had gained “points” or lost them, began to wither. This allowed me to take things less personally. It’s one thing to know that the vast majority, if not all things, are not personal, but it’s another to truly be aware of it and feel it. I was able to see that I did not require validation and love from everyone outside of me to be at peace with myself. However, when appropriate, I was able to show compassion and give love at a level far above what I had been capable of previous to my experience of mindfulness.
- I soon found that my usually somber visage was transformed into a nearly constant smile. I saw this draw others to me in a satisfying way.
- While I’ve always had a strong intuition, this aspect of myself exponentially increased.
Here are a few links to view the benefits of meditation outside my own personal experience:
