“You either think meditation is for granola-munching hippies or you are one yourself”.
That was me – I’ve said that myself when I was young. I looked at people saying “ummmmm” with their legs crossed and their hands making the “okay” gesture, and I thought they were silly. To an extent, I still think plenty of forms of meditation are silly, or promote plain wrong ideas – that is just my personal opinion. What is not my personal opinion is the facts and evidence behind meditation.
Also, for skeptics out there still believing you must incorporate the philosophy of the Yogi to meditate – let me just say that that’s completely false!
Allow me to elaborate:
How Do We Define Meditation?
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“Meditation: continuous thought or musing upon one subject or series of subjects”
-Oxford Dictionary
Among an onslaught of further definitions, the simple meaning of classic meditation is basically to keep your mind on something, to think about it, turning it around and around in your mind. If you think of meditation this way, you might find that, like me, you unconsciously do this every day.
Now we take it a step further and examine these different thought processes; not all are good, are they? Sometimes you have a test coming up and can think of nothing but that subject, turning the dreaded event over and over in your mind. This will surely bring you anxiety, and it’s the farthest from what you want in meditation as a whole.
Sometimes, something that someone did to you that upsets you replays in your mind. You find all the wrong things they did, you might even come up with new ways that their actions have offended you. This will surely bring you further anger – even hatred of that other person. This, too, is not what we want.
We turn then to the ones trademarked for meditation: the yogi’s. We find (among the philosophy of spiritual belief) that their main focus when meditating is to focus entirely on nothing – to release all thoughts and maintain that focus: the focus of the release. The Yoga Tradition seeks to become one with Isvara – or God, represented by the repetition of the word “om”. All of this is, to me, extremely fascinating. But seeing as it is a religion they practice rather than a mental practice, we’ll leave it alone for this article.
Okay, I Know What It Is… Why Should I Care?
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Why should you care?
Studies have shown those who meditate reduce anxiety, reduce stress, and process things much better than those who do not.
In life, we will never be without problems. How we grow and choose to handle those problems is the key to our overall success – for example, one person may see a wall in front of them; the same person might see a wall in which to climb to get a better view from above.
Meditation helps with all of this. It helps us understand our world with more wisdom, a calmer mind, and clear perception.
How You Should Meditate
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According to this lowly writer you find yourself in company with, this is how you should meditate (in my opinion). If you don’t like this method, scroll down further and you’ll find a method you might find more acceptable.
Step 1
Pray and ask the Lord God to focus your thoughts and help you to concentrate.
When you do this, you find yourself centered and become calm. Your mind might still wander – don’t let up! Keep on coming back to Him in prayer, and keep asking for help to quiet all the thoughts.
Step 2
Open a Bible – whether one you have or one you search up online – and begin to read. It is probably best to look up a subject in which you’re dealing with – whether that be anger, lust, frustration, or sorrow. find a verse that leaps out at you and opens up that chapter. Read in context, focusing on what the entirety of the passage is trying to tell you.
Step 3
Now focus and reflect. Keep asking Him to provide understanding, stillness, and help in your situation. What does the Bible say about your struggle? How do you apply that to what you’re dealing with now? Roll this over in your mind, don’t let yourself wander this way or that, use your focus and truly reflect.
Sometimes it takes me all of ten minutes and this method solves my problems. Sometimes it takes days or weeks – very few times it’s taken years for me to receive an answer. But out of everything that I’ve researched, and based on the beliefs I hold (that Jesus Christ is the Son of God), this has worked 10/10 times. I would suggest that you give it a try and see what happens!
Another Method Of Classic Meditation
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For those of you who’d prefer to leave God out of the equation, here are some similar steps that might be of use to you:
It goes like this:
Take an inward breath and close your eyes. Imagine that the problem at hand is sitting in it’s entirety before you. Now remove all emotion from this problem and simply examine it like an artifact in a museum. What are the flaws? The upsides? The silver linings? The ugly?
Focus on just knowing this thing. Put your hands on it, move it around in your mind. Once you think you understand it completely, ask yourself this question: “What can I do to solve this problem and get the best possible outcome?”
Sometimes the answer is to wait it out; sometimes it’s to take action; sometimes there’s nothing you can do; sometimes the answer is that you need to seek out more information. Regardless of the answer, you will have an answer.
Give this a try on your own! I hope it helps!