dalai lama's advice

Dalai Lama says:
"Our spiritual journey is a long one.  We must choose our path with care, ensuring that it encompasses all those methods that lead us to our goal.  At times the journey is steep.  We must know how to pace ourselves down to the snail's pace of profound contemplation while also ensuring that we do not forget our neighbour's problem or that of fish swimming in polluted oceans many thousands of miles away"
Blog for today

you can meditate too: Wednesday

you can meditate too: Wednesday: Wednesday, The test for any person in meditation is to keep present and that is why a mantra may be given.  Meditation is also the daily te...

you can meditate too: Right, today, Tuesday and the day started with a h...

you can meditate too: Right, today, Tuesday and the day started with a h...: Right, today, Tuesday and the day started with a half hour meditation interrupted by a single persistent thought!  All about me.  Ah, transc...

you can meditate too: I wanted to start blogging about meditation. Not ...

you can meditate too: I wanted to start blogging about meditation.  Not ...: I wanted to start blogging about meditation.  Not because I am good at it but because it is THE most interesting thing I do.  It is also som...

Meditation Harry Potter style

The test for any person in meditation is to keep present and that is why a mantra may be given.  Meditation is also the daily test for the person meditating and today was testing, you can decide if meditation won or the mind!  The three issues circling round are physical, I am on a diet with no alcohol plus there are family issues which vex the mind plus I got properly shafted by a friend for whom I thought I had done rather a lot of favours. Those are the three, so half an hour twice a day gives a chance for freedom, the choice is whether or not to take it.  What I discovered today was that the incoming thoughts, rather like incoming texts or e mails were like bludgers in Quidditch (for the uninitiated, go to Harry Potter) and the mantra like the golden snitch.  No bludger knocked me off quite, but when one winged past, just in time I dodged, and dodged and dodged.  So, did I find pools of bliss or peace unlimited?  Not quite, but I did find that there was a space in the heart which just didn't move, and if I could stay there, not wishing for things to change, just watching the bludgers flying past, tuning in again and again to the mantra and what was behind it, the half hour went past without feeling like half an hour, it just disappeared and yes, there was refreshment.

Meditation and the 'me' figure

Right, today, Tuesday and the day started with a half hour meditation interrupted by a single persistent thought!  All about me.  Ah, transcending the 'me' as well as the thoughts is the whole point of meditation and it is about the only place where at least the 'me' in its aggravated and aggravating form is seen in a clear spotlight.
I went back to the mantra.
Meditation is about equity of being and if the equity is shaken, more meditation is needed.  Of course, when a really good thought comes along in the peace and quiet of the practice, it is very easy to mistake it as a really important thought, maybe even divine intervention.  For sure, it isn't!  its just a better thought!

I wanted to start blogging about meditation.  Not because I am good at it but because it is THE most interesting thing I do.  It is also sometimes the most difficult, especially when there are other things I would rather be doing.  I think this is because action is addictive and meditation is the antidote.   I meditate twice a day, (mostly) for half an hour at a time with a mantra given 35 years ago at a simple ceremony.
Now, as I said, it isn't always top of the list of things I want to do so I have to fit it in and that takes a bit of determination and discipline, mostly getting up a bit earlier and in the evening, meditating before I get into the business of evening relaxation.  And I wouldn't do this  for no good reason, so I must believe that 35 years of meditation have made a difference.
I will blog about the difference it has made and see if you think this is a convincing enough story to consider meditating too.