Now About Meditation

The highest expression of our human nature is arrived through the purification of our minds.  This is the purpose of the practice of meditation through the use of an anchor of attention . Our mind is by nature comparable to a clear sky, the thoughts in our mind are compared the clouds. To clear away the clouds in meditation whenever you notice that your mind is lost in thought you acknowledged that and return back to your anchor of attention and the sky like nature of mind. With time and practice, this clearing away of the clouds results in the breaking of the sheets of snow and ice that we are encased in or the breaking up of our delusions and our habitual patterns of reactivity.

The key to cultivating tolerance is to separate the validity of an idea from the validity of the person holding the idea. Behind every idea is a motivation that is shaped by hopes and fears . If we are able to identify this underlying motivation, we will see the wish to find happiness and to be free from suffering.

Socrates said that "the unexamined life is not worth living". About the same time, the Buddha started teaching a way towards  Socrates examined life, attained through the practice of meditative inquiry . Meditative inquiry is the practice of dropping a question in the mind in such a way that it causes the mind to distance itself from conditioned thinking , making space for our own innate wisdom to arise. As the Buddha said, "there are wise questions that help free the mind from suffering — and unwise questions that keep us mired in confusion."

Whenever you feel overwhelmed STOP : S top just stop and pause.   T ake a deep breath and mindfully rest the mind back into the body.   O bserve what’s going on right now, notice any thoughts or feelings and bodily sensations.   P roceed mindfully with awareness and kindness to yourself and others.   Source -  STOP – What does mindfulness and being mindful mean?

By  living mindfully wholesomely cultivating the beautiful and the good. This is made possible through the seeds of generosity, kindness, and compassion that live in every human heart. These qualities ennoble our hearts and leave no residue of regret in our minds.

Perhaps there is a common clue of how one can be happy. Living in a spiritual community could be one of the clues. Within a spiritual community happiness arises and is inherent in the caring compassionate connections that are made: With such connections formed the frightened “I” who struggles is replaced by a collective “we” who go about facing the frightening and difficult aspects of life together, looking after one other.

When you meditate, sitting quietly, trying to focus, on your meditation anchor you start to notice what takes you away from your point of focus. Generally, this is a thought of some kind or another. Meditation practice is not intended to stop you from thinking but its purpose is to help you discover what and how you are thinking .

In  contemplative traditions , you’ll find many examples where different forms of meditative practices are used together. For instance, in Buddhism mantra meditation, mindfulness meditation, visualisation meditation etc. are all used. This is also true within backspace the Roman Catholic tradition where they use mantra meditation (example the Rosary), mindfulness meditation in the form of contemplative prayer, and visualisation imagination prayer an example that used in the Ignatian tradition. Remember that at the  basic meditation  is using an anchor of attention as a point to return to when the mind wanders. All the above forms of meditation use different types of anchors of attention to return to when the mind wanders. Remember, it’s not a question of what meditation practice or  anchors of attention  you use. It’s about finding what best works for you to calm the mind. So if you find benefit from practising different forms of meditation together benefi...

Practice, of both the athletic and the spiritual kind, are quite similar.  They both focus on our imperfection by accepting and acknowledging them.  Such that spiritual practice is not a manifestation of perfection, but an acceptance of imperfection . One does not achieve or attain spiritual heights of  compassion , kindness, mindfulness and equanimity; one develops them by meeting the moment over and over again .