Meditation (The Coming Year's Journey Part 2)

Meditation

There is so much to ponder here, or un-ponder. How do you know if you are even doing it right? Of course, if you are projected into some fantastic astral world, which did happen to me once, that is a sign that something is working. As we are reminded though by Yogananda it is not these astral visions that we really seek, but the true unconditional love connection from Source or God. That did in fact happen once, but not during an actual meditation session.

Even when I think nothing is happening something really is. Making some brief contact with the inner being, even for the minutest fraction of a second, seems to bring outer results. So, I keep plugging away. It's the practice that makes perfection as with anything else. Some days you hit that perfect note, most days you don't. One day all the notes will come together making beautiful harmony. "Be still and know that I am God."
Psalms 46:10.

There are many by-products of meditation. It was hard to establish the ones I would call goals or aspects I wish to work on during the coming year. Narrowing the many attributes that started coming to mind down to eleven became a goal to work on in itself.

I feel one big by-product of meditation is synchronicity. I usually find myself bombarded by synchronistic events, on some days happening one after the other. It can be like living in a world of magic. Right after each synchronicity I have tried to make a habit of being in a state of thankfulness. Thankfulness will be one of my major goals or attributes I wish to work on during the coming year. All of these attributes that I am exploring and trying to further cultivate and enhance during the coming year all seem interrelated to me. Using them in correlation seems to make life flow more evenly on calmer waters.

I will give an example of how I perceive these synchronicities in my life. On Thursday I went into work with Chris, dropping him off and finishing up my Christmas shopping. My first stop was for breakfast. I ordered a mug of Chai latte. I try to always get it in a mug to avoid the plastic throw away. She gave me one of those large mugs along with a Styrofoam cup since she had made extra saying that I could just take it to go. I appreciated the generosity of the gesture. She could have just thrown it out. However, by the same token it rather defeated my purpose of trying to avoid the plastic. Later though I actually noticed the symbol on the bottom of the cup designating the cup was made of biodegradable materials.

I proceeded on with shopping, mostly finding everything I needed in record time. As I walked into the stores, what I needed I somehow walked straight to. While in Borders I wanted to also check out books on animal totems. My first thought as I entered the section I thought it most likely to be in was that it would probably be hard to find and that I would have to visit the help counter, but the first book my eyes even lit on was the exact book I needed to look at?. quite remarkable I thought. One item on my shopping list though I was told I would probably find it at Wal-Mart, a place I seriously try to avoid. I just thought bite the bullet, and trek onward. I found what I needed easily, plus the perfect Christmas card for Chris just leaped out at me near the check out. The cashier was exceptionally friendly, as was everyone else I encountered in my brief two hour shopping excursion. As I left Wal-Mart, which was my last stop, the greeter was also checking people's purchases and receipts. Although I was carrying my own shopping tote for some reason she just waved me on.

I met Chris for lunch. I tend to be so indecisive. I thought I saw onion rings on someone's plate which looked exceptionally good to me. They looked like hand dipped ones, really the only kind I like. I thought perhaps though I should go with the bargain meal duo and chose tortilla soup, which was really delicious and a stuffed bake potato. After ordering though, I still really wanted the onion rings. So, when the waitress came by again, we just ordered the onion rings as an appetizer. They were brought out promptly and met all my expectations for good onion rings. Now I was basically full and didn't really want the baked potato. Here came the waitress again with the baked potato and soup. As she set the potato on the table she explained that the cook wasn't really happy with it and said I could wait for a new one coming out soon, or she would just take this off the bill. The universe hears and responds in a very pleasant manner.

The rest of the day went just as well. On the way home we stopped at a park to see the Christmas lights. Doing this was one of our very first dates six years ago. It was nice re-living this. Also at the park we discovered they had put up a temporary ice skating rink. The total cost to skate was $3, which included skate rental. That was basically all the cash we happened to have left. I can't skate, but Chris does. I was happy that he got to.

I might mention that excellent parking spots and easy traffic conditions seemed to be quite under control by my guardian angel.

Another by-product of meditation is intuition. I seem to have a great deal of this. I think all of us do. It's a matter of practice in learning to use it in the most efficient manner as with anything else. Intuition is following your gut or heart. It can be a voice that comes to you, or a strong feeling. It almost falls into the realm of something without definition. It surpasses belief and is a knowing. One of the simplest examples of this may be of thinking of someone and the telephone rings.

The list of by-products of meditation, such as improved health benefits, stress reduction, and increased focus and balance have been studied and measured. There are also many techniques, some of which can involve physical movement. The common denominator in all though seems to be stillness of mind. I find the practice of meditation truly transforming.