Hello everyone. I’m excited to be with you again to share this week’s blog called…. I thought this might be a good time to discuss meditation and what it can do for us in our lives. Fortunately, it seems meditation has become much more mainstream than in years past. People begin meditating for many reasons because it can be helpful and healing for numerous conditions and circumstances. Some people meditate to ease anxiety or stress. Some meditate to help teach themselves how to stay mindful of what is happening in the present moment, so we do not miss our precious lives as they pass quickly by. Others enjoy this tranquil state of mind, because it brings to light the chaos that goes on as the egoic, monkey mind[1] tries to toss us headfirst into life’s dramas. Being mindful of those mostly useless thoughts, helps us hit the pause button and allows the stillness and silence to open the door to our intuition, insights, inspiration, and peace of mind. From a spiritual perspective, I believe that the silence or the gap between our thoughts is the very place where God, the angels and our spirit guides have an opportunity to speak to us and help assist us on the path to our life’s purpose. They can also offer us answers and solutions to questions and challenges, that inevitably come to pass in our lives throughout the years.

Often, I hear people say, “I tried meditating and I just can’t seem to turn off my thoughts.”

I understand, as I have been there myself. Yet, I have come to recognize that, thoughts like those are the ego’s attempts to keep us from entering that space within, where it loses its power over us. The ego wants to keep us from going there because, it is in that magical place where the ego is silenced, and our souls can then, grab the rudder, come about, and reset the sails of our vessel, so we are back on course.[2]

Everyone can meditate and no one way of meditating is the best way. You do not have to sit cross legged on a pillow with candles and soft music. You can meditate while walking, playing music, or floating on a raft in the sea. We simply need to enter the silence and then keep an inner eye or ear out for the intrusion of a crowded, messy mind that is thinking unconsciously, and has locked the gates to our tranquility. As soon as we become aware that the levee has been breached, we can then call on the peace police, if you will, evacuate the disrupters, and regain our access to mindfulness once again. This process can happen repeatedly in any one meditation. We can slip into a deep, serene, and quiet place and out of nowhere we notice the rude intruders are back, and we need to remove them and begin again.

I find that, for the novice meditator, it might be easiest to start with a guided visualization meditation like the ones I have written and shared recently. If you have not listened to them and would like to, you can find them on the video page on my website, www.drusillasdream.com. These kinds of meditations usually work with our breath and then guide us to a restful place by having us consciously relax our bodies and minds. There are points in our breathing where we feel the moment of “pause” both at the top of the inhale and then again at the end of the exhale. I find that if I really allow myself to fall gently after I exhale and enjoy that peaceful pause, I can get much deeper. In my experience and from what I hear from others regularly, the deeper we go, the more blissful the state of consciousness.

Some of you might be wondering what it feels like to meditate. I am afraid I cannot answer that with any specific clarity. Everyone finds their meditation experience to be unique to them. It is also not the same every time we meditate. Some days, we have a super terrific meditation where we are floating endlessly on a sea of serenity. On other days, however, the monkey mind will not let us stop thinking about the interview we are going to have, or the clothes we need to pack for a trip, or the dishes we left in the sink. Even the most Zen meditators have days like that. What we can be assured of is that the more consistently we meditate the better we get at it and the faster we fall into that peaceful state. We can also begin to understand that whatever experience we have, at the time, is perfect for us.

For creative people, which specifically is every one of us since we all have the artistic gene from our Divine Creator, meditation is the magical key that will unlock the door to our imagination. It is through the imagination that scientists find long hidden cures, teachers discover the perfect way to get through to a struggling child, writers pen masterpieces, song writers open hearts and touch souls, musicians play the perfect combination of cords and notes that can heal us energetically and physically, and mystics and empaths find cosmic knowingness amid the unknown.

We may find insight and inspiration during or directly following a meditation. However, it is more likely that those gifts come later. It may be hours, days, months or even years. Yet, when the time is right the inspiration will arise.  Once the portal to Spirit opens through intentions motivated by love, and our minds and hearts become fertile ground for emerging seeds of truth, our lives begin to shift. We may come to realize that, yes, we are living fully in the physical world, but are also acutely aware that it is not our true home. Material things have less value or meaning, and do not have the power to define us. Love and relationships with other human souls become the building blocks from which a world of kindness, compassion and unity is built.

These are lofty, sort of other worldly musings, that some might feel are out of reach for a lot of us. I have been assured that whatever our souls need, at this time, to come to a place of awakening and spiritual evolution, will be unveiled. We will never receive more than we need, can understand, or is necessary for fulfilling our own unique life purpose. That said, for the spiritual seekers among us, meditation may accelerate the ascension, awakening and enlightenment that awaits the fully evolved soul. There is no rush, however. Everything happens at the perfect time, space continuum. Let us all seek, and we will surely find exactly what we need to help heal  us and guide us across the oceans of our misperceptions and forgotten memories, to the bountiful shores of our remembrances, heightened consciousness, clarity, and truth.

[1] The term monkey mind, according to Buddhist philosophy, refers to the part of the mind that is easily distracted by random thoughts. When one is trying to focus on a task at hand, to succeed, the monkey mind, with of its random distracting thoughts, needs to be silenced. This is one of the obstacles to overcome in a meditation practice.

[2] This line includes sailing terminology