My sister always asks…what’s the point? Why meditate? She says: “Its just a band-aid”
From MY point of view…..
The most meaningful reason for me is: relaxation. Meditation has the ability to help me relax & chill out. Then again, so can a bubble bath or a massage. So why meditate?
In my opinion, relaxation is a luxury in the world we live in today. The everyday tension and stress that accompanies life in the 21st century can be debilitating to our mental and physical health. I need something deeper than an occasional treat. I need ongoing “quiet time for ME” which is definitely relaxing.
I first began meditating in 1995, I suffered a traumatic childhood filled with anxiety and depression that did not subside even when I went to sleep. Regular meditation helped retrain my brain and body to handle anxious thoughts when they arrived. It didn’t stop the anxious thoughts, but it helped short-circuit the trigger that connected the thoughts to the physical panic symptoms, such as shortness of breath, sweating, and severe stress.
Meditation helped me ground myself more to be conscious of the present moment, Instead of always thinking: “what-if.” Panic lives in the “what-if.” What if I never find love? What if my business MITP fails? What if I can’t get a job? The more I train my mind to stay in the NOW, the more I am able to confront these “what-ifs”. I feel it is like witnessing, rather than being the victim.
Dr Jonathan D Moch, BSc MBBCH FFPSYCH (SA) Contrarian Psychiatrist and Cognitive Fitness Expert, Founder: Mindfulness in the Park (SA) believes the thinking mind is wonderful but has limitations. If you’ve ever been up late at night, tossing and turning with the difficulties of the day, lost in circular thoughts or obsessed with a difficult decision, you have witnessed the limited capacity of the mind to solve your deepest problem. Often the thinking mind tries to pick apart, understand, and bring logic to painful or complicated feelings, without a great deal of success.
Dr Moch totally advocates Mindfulness. The MITP programme is revolved around a holistic approach, the practice complements various fields divided into 4 lifestyle techniques:
1. Superfoods – Proper eating habits
2. Movement – Yoga, walking, exercising
3. Relationships – Personal & Work issues
4. Destressing – Techniques to quiet the mind
Check out the website: www.mitp.co.za
For me, when my mind becomes quiet, a miraculous thing begins to happen. In my case, I see a white light and I start to notice the patterns of my thoughts without getting too attached to them. I can hear with remarkable clarity the many voices in my head—voices of people, stories I have invented. Space becomes available for insights and truths to speak from unconscious realms within. For me this is wisdom.
I went on a meditation retreat in the Drakensberg in the middle of a very traumatic time in my life. When I sat down meditating on the first few days of the retreat, I could feel the magnetic attraction of my problems consuming my thoughts and not letting me go.
Finally, on one of the last days of the retreat, after a week of repeatedly getting caught up in thoughts, suddenly my thinking mind surrendered. Out of nowhere, I heard an internal voice. It was a different voice than the endless, confused conspiracies of the mind I had been struggling with. It said quietly, with clarity: “You have to let go”.
As soon as those words had the chance to break through, I burst into tears. That was it… With those few words, I knew it had to be true, but somehow I didn’t want to face my vulnerabilities. Then suddenly an epiphany came to the surface. I needed to change the situation I was in. I finally made the decision…. Let go… all that was left was moving forward.
Nearly all the major insights I have had in my life have come from that place deep inside. Perhaps you have noticed this in your life—times when your mind stopped fixating on a problem and an answer came to you from a different place. This is the nature of our mind’s inner wisdom, and meditation is the fertile ground that enables it to emerge.
For me personally, meditation increases compassion. I find that the more I meditate, the more I feel motivated to treat the people in my life with everyday kindness and care. Meditation cracks my heart wide open and softens me towards others. It is not something I think through. It feels more like a rush of bliss!
When I am focused on what is happening in real time, even for a few seconds at a time, I am not caught in the tangle of thoughts that constantly swing between the future and the past. I become intimate with the experience of life and am able to live my life more deeply.
For me that is the outcome of regular meditation: living in the present, letting go of the past, relaxation, wisdom and compassion.
? That is why I L❤️VE meditating…Amen! ?
