During my 20+ years of spiritual inquiry, I’ve had 1000’s of beautiful conversations with people about meditation and its transformative role in our lives.
In addition, I’ve come across many distorted presumptions and misconceptions about meditation, including reasons why people aren’t able to meditate.
People often perceive meditation as too daunting, demanding they to be at an advanced stage in life or of mind before they even begin. Others see it as simply having no visible results for them or requiring a shift into a radically different lifestyle.
I feel these perceptions are distrorted. The most important point I wish to share from my journey for newcomers is this:
Meditation is the most natural and simple commitment we can make, and does NOT require us to do something completely different.
For me, meditation is simply resting my attention on my breath, moment to moment, to the best of my ability in each life situation. In addition, I identify particular activities I deem as most conducive for meditation and dedicate time for these.
We could sit in a lotus position or on a chair, or meditate while cooking, gardening, walking, driving, or talking. Any activity can be treated as meditation. What matters is simply where we put our attention.
As we meditate, our reactive mind gets short-circuited, allowing a more mature voice to come forth from within us. The benefits are immediate as to the clarity we experience.
That said, the work and benefits are long-term as well. Let’s make no mistake that cultivating meditation is a “rest of our lives” process. It is continuous learning and honing through different contexts and life challenges. That said, each moment we stay centered, we attain a micro victory — and that victory begets more victories. We thus take one more step, one more step, and one more step, towards a stronger connection with our Deeper Self within.
Ranjeeth Thunga
Perspective Mapper
PerspectiveDepth.org
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