Happy Meditating :)

Crtsy: Sciencemag.org

I believe in the signs of the Universe.  When I keep bumping into something repeatedly, I strongly feel a pull towards it and realise the need to pay heed. Now the Universe sending signs does not mean it will come down to you shake hands and say “ Hello Sir, You are expected to write a 500 word essay on the subject I have been throwing at you the last few days  .”   That isn’t going to happen!!  So, we need to figure out what it is that the sign is trying to imply. Understanding or recognising and trying to work around a sign in itself is to be aware of the moments.

So I have been stumbling upon this word since the last few days.  Since I don’t know what else to do with it , I am sharing my experience and outlook on the subject!! MEDITATION – a free halo and the brightest LED torch comes with it which you can fix on your spine or head. You don’t believe it ? Try telling someone you meditate and they would instantly bless you with these free items J   Very Jokes wonly ;)  Every time I mention the word mediation I feel like an infant stepping into a large hall with a tall roof full of toys …..excited,  confused and small !! Its been about two years since I started sitting with a stick trying to get my wicked mind to obey! To give a quick overview of my character ..i am that kind of person who is easily bored and easily entertained. I need to keep my restless cells active to feel useful. If at the end of the day I realise that I have just spent the day at home doing my routine mundane chores, I may sink into a low and dig a deeper grave thinking and wondering what an unproductive life I lead!!! So as to avoid this kind of thinking I used to keep myself up and running! I am also a curious cat. So seeking and being curious about things are in the gene. Various incidents combined with my outlook and seeking nature made me sail into the vast ocean of meditation.  It was insane!! Every time I tried to meditate my mind unleashed a stream of frenzied thoughts as if they had been suppressed forever!  My monkey mind kept swaying from one limb to the other . It included mental arguments, preparing a list of provisions I needed to get, wondering why my son is not scoring well, thinking if I am a good parent, trying to recollect if I loaded the washing machine, huffing and puffing over the dirty dishes in the sink, and the list goes on and on ! So this is how my meditation went on for a while.  Forget getting close to God, it didn’t seem like I was even getting close to reducing the number of issues my mind was fretting over!!!  They just seemed to increase everyday and to add to the misery,  there were these songs that kept playing in my head. Ok I know what you are thinking  !! Sorry peeps, its not those soothing ones that can actually lull one into the swaying motion of the waves making  one float and slip into a higher level of consciousness . Nop, its not one of those….its the likes of ‘Mukkala Mukkabala’ or ‘Tu cheez badi hain mast mast’ that kept grinning at me !! Not happening! I told myself, this is NOT Meditation.  And the kind of transformation I had expected in my character and outlook was also not happening.  When I told people I meditate, I got raised eyebrows ! I never claimed to be Sadhguru or Shri Shri Ravishankar,   but the moment I mentioned meditation ,that was the expectation! If not Sadhguru or Shri Shri, atleast Dalai Lama or Buddha !!!!!
Ok, so now coming back to my sorry state with regards to meditation, I had lost hope on quietening my mind because it was getting rebellious than ever!

I lost hope, true, but I did not give up !! I still made it a point to sit down everyday in the same place and talk to myself. It later became my time of conversation with myself. I started realizing that it is actually the time when I know and account for all that is going on inside my head and heart. Atleast I was talking to myself if not to the creator. Gradually, very very gradually, I realized the voices inside my head have softened or rather I needed to strain to hear what they were. They were still there but not as vivid as they once used to be ! And what an achievement, the songs have also switched to the soft ones, ones which can actually translocate me.  Now, this  for me personally is a step , however small it is, it is a step forward .  This is meditation in the sense of sitting down with closed eyes and journeying inward.

If I am to take mediation to the next level of diluting it into the 24 hours of a day, I experience another level of consciousness and understanding.  I have learned to pause, observe, breathe and absorb. I am able to notice the butterflies, I am able to experience the breeze in its full glory, I notice the expression in peoples eyes, I focus and enjoy the food I eat. I see more, I notice more, I appreciate more, I value more! I have a lot of respect for people who write on the smallest aspects of life, the photographers who pause to capture an ant, dew resting on the leaves, the floating clouds, the smile on a child’s face or even a pleasant candid moment between friends. It means they have paused, they have absorbed, they have been in that moment. This for me is the highest form of meditation. Appreciating the Now! It is about not worrying about the spilt milk and also not being anxious about the loss in the sale of milk from the cow you never had! But as humans, we tend to fall into the trap of negative thinking.  That’s ok, as long as we make an effort to rise with chin up. Try not to be here and there. Either be here or there! But I know that we are all taught to multi task to survive in this rat race . That’s also ok !! Try , if you are finding it difficult, try harder J

So my very little nuggets of wisdom my dear ones would be that, please appreciate the beauty of what is around you. Don’t miss out on the magic of little things while seeking greater pleasure. Enjoy everything that you do. Even if it is a problem resolving,  be in it and give your cent percent to it.  Meditation is not just silencing your mind, it is also learning to live in the moment and being happy where you are , creating an  awareness which eventually guides you into a consciousness shift! Live in the moment and Happy Mediating J