Flash Meditation

Flash Meditation

Image by Shahariar Lenin from Pixabay

 

In the midst of the whirlwind of daily life, it is easy to forget that the essence of who you are is peace. That may seem laughable at times, but it is in those times especially, we should pause to discover and contact our true self, the calm beacon of light that silently never blinks in the middle of life’s storms.

Even when we are not aware of it, peace is present in the background of all of our experiences. It never goes away because it is who we are. All we need to do to experience it is to turn within in silence and be aware of our being. This is the true purpose of meditation. Meditation is not simply a technique for relaxation, but rather a connection to the presence you are. In meditation, you feel relaxed because you have connected with your peaceful nature, a nature that is beyond thoughts, beyond words, beyond the mind.

Our lives have become conditioned to being controlled by our minds. Most of us live with continual mental noise, a non-stop loop of mind stuff that distracts us from our true nature like clouds distract us from the clear blue sky. To live this way is really a form of madness. Fortunately, we have the power to slow this mental controlling down, if not bring a complete end to it.

Make it a regular practice in your life to pause at several moments during the day just to feel the presence and peace of your being. Don’t make it a mental practice. Pause, and actually feel this vibrating presence. These pauses do not have to last longer than one or two seconds. You can end it quickly before the mind even has a chance to get involved. To pause for ten seconds is wonderful! You can quickly make these flash meditations a habit. One second of peace before an important call. A brief moment of connection before you pick up the kids. A couple of seconds experiencing present peace before dinner. You will soon discover you are finding more and more opportunities to connect with the peace you are and these moments will become an increasingly sacred and transforming practice in your daily life.

That’s Just Your Opinion, Man

Opinions

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

 

Surprise, it’s okay to not have an opinion about something! In fact, it’s completely acceptable to dump all opinions you currently hold about… well, everything!

I realize that isn’t a very popular opinion. (See what I did there?) We live at a time and in a society that values its opinions about everything from political parties, social movements, restaurant service, video content, social media posts, music quality, advertisement effectiveness, and on and on and on. Almost everything we run across includes a “Like” button, a review space, or a feedback feature and we’re continually pressured to decide what we think and to tell everyone. You’ll even find Like and Share buttons at the end of this article. (You don’t have to use them, you know…)

The essential Being which you are never holds opinions. You are not your mind. That which you essentially are does not, and even cannot, hold mental positions about anything. Clutching opinions forces you to live in a world of abstractions. It prevents you from really knowing the things or experiences you hold opinions about as they truly are.

Opinions keep us mentally locked into a conceptual past rather than consciously residing in presence. They are often based on former experiences or conditionings which prevent us from seeing the reality of what is being experienced now. They don’t allow for the truth that all things change, move, and transform. An opinion is simply a cartoon version of reality.

To not hold on to opinions doesn’t suggest we do not humanly have preferences. We can still enjoy the immediate experience of cardamom ice cream or Cardi B or House of Cards without needing to form an identity around that enjoyment. We do not need to make the dislike of Polka music into part of a personal story of who we are. Enjoy an experience in the present, agree with a religious perspective now, or dislike the food flavor you are currently experiencing, then let it go.

This is not an opinion: to remove opinions from your life is to move closer to the awareness of who you really are.