A Secret You Need To Know Now About Meditation

What Is Meditation?

What is meditation? Meditation can be anything! Literally! Meditation is the thought behind what you do with a therapeutic perspective, or through a therapeutic lens. Meditation can be gardening, yoga, walking, observing, washing the dishes, and so much more!

The key is to use your MIND to help you do these things therapeutically, through meditation.

The Key To Meditation

So if meditation can be anything, then what is the real key behind meditation? How do you know it’s working or that you are doing it right? How do you know if you are actually meditating? Know this, if your mind wanders, and you bring it back in focus, then you are meditating. It’s the wandering of the mind that helps you know you are meditating. Meditation is a practice that you PRACTICE. Practicing meditation IS the key.

When we view our meditation practice as just that, a practice, then we become OK with the fact that the mind has a mind of its own. Thoughts will come and go, some thoughts linger like an itch on your back you just can’t quite reach; they just happen. The secret to meditating is the intention set behind it.

The intention behind meditating is to let go. Moreover, the goal of a meditation practice is to practice often, and let go of any inner experience, to experience without judgment or thought. Have you heard the saying, “It is what it is”? This saying is a characteristic of meditation.

Benefits of Practicing Meditation

Over time, and with practice, we are more able to let things go and not allow things to affect us. We become more in tune with ourselves. We are able to “keep calm, and carry on”.

Every time we practice meditating, we practice switching off the sympathetic nervous system, or the fight or flight response. As the fight or flight response is shut off, then we switch on the parasympathetic nervous system, or the relaxation response. The more you do this day after day, the more relaxed the mind and body become.

Guess what happens when the mind and body are relaxed? We heal. We repair. We recover. We cope. We feel better. We are able to do more things we were not able to do before. We become our best selves. When we are our best selves, we are more available to others and able to offer our best self to other people.

A Meditation Story

While giving my basil garden a leaf-cut, I listened to the bees buzzing from flower to flower. I allowed thoughts to come up, and to go, and returned to listening to the buzzing of the bees. I allowed myself to be in the present moment. I was meditating.

Next, I washed the leaves and removed them from the stems. While washing, I listened to the water and allowed it to help me wash and purify my mind. I allowed myself to connect with each plant and offered gratitude. I was meditating.

I was mindful of a spider I accidentally took in with the plants, so I gathered him up and placed him back in the garden, then returning to my washing. I was meditating.

Conclusion

When you do what you do today, meditate, bring yourself into the present, and accept the gifts bestowed upon you. Allow what comes, to go. Peace, love, namaste.