Meditation experience

I have begun meditating daily. It's benefits have been immediate and far reaching in my thought life and it has brought me a lot of joy.  To prove it, I will relate a story. Yesterday I came home from work and was really in my head.  Running old tapes over and over about how I had screwed up at work.  My conclusions are always that I am unintelligent and I am doomed to make mistakes and doomed to the disapproval of others.  My wife noticed my state and suggested that I meditate again.  She said this because she knew how much it had affected me positively the day before.  I had meditated for the first time the day before and had found that I was filled with such joy and peace afterwards.  And it was not an unfounded, manic joy.. it was a soft, warm, peaceful joy.  I felt rooted in my identity as a child of God and happy with myself.
     So I decided to take her suggestion and meditate again.. after all, I thought to myself, it only takes five minutes and the benefits the day before were immediate and long lasting.  So I did it again, sitting cross-legged on the couch, I focused on my breath at first. Then I recited the phrase to myself,  "Do not be aftraid, I am with you."  Every time my thoughts wandered, I simply recited the phrase in my mind.  Upon ending my meditation I was once again filled with peace.  A few minutes later, I noticed that the thoughts about work and my intelligence had lost their grip on me, and I began once again to feel a sense of Joy that carried on for the rest of the evening.
     It is a hard thing to commit to for some reason.  When I go to do it, I think, how can I possibly do this for five minutes.  But as soon as I start, the time flies by and before I know it, the five minute kitchen timer alarm is going off and immediately I begin to see the benefits of my efforts: peace and joy for the rest of the evening.  I feel more in touch with God the past few days, and I am just generally happier.


I found an interesting and thought provoking article called "Meditate Like Jesus."  It was one person's experience with meditation over the years.  The person had read an article written by a Jewish person on how the ancient Hebrews meditated.  They took two opposing ideas from scripture and focused on them in their mind, always coming back to them as their thoughts wandered.  Though we have no clear discription for Jesus' meditation, this person concluded that this may have been what Jesus did.  It is very interesting and I thought I would try it... but I really like focusing on the phrase, "Do not be afraid, I am with you."  So I will, of course, keep doing that as well.

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