Meditation (1 0f 4)

Following on from the previous post - ‘a simple framework for transformation’:

Meditation > Contemplation > Integration > Transformation


This is a brief on the first element.


Years ago, an elderly gentleman, a stranger in a coffee shop, said to me: “you are only alive when you are meditating.” For context, I was reading a book on the topic and had a notebook out.


On the face of it, this sounds outlandish, maybe coming from the mouth of someone stoned or a Gandalf type, or both.


But switch the optics, and there is truth in this statement.


Meditation, amongst many things, is awareness of one’s experience - both inner & outer - eventually the practice develops the capacity to be with everything and anything that shows up.


Meditation enables one to be aware of the dynamic moment to moment experience of thought, feeling, emotion, sensation, sight, sound, smell, taste etc.


This old gent, I think meant, that when you are not aware of the fullness of your experience, you’re affectively walking dead.



How often are we preoccupied by only the ‘thought’ element of our experience - the constant stream of “I, me & mine”, so much so that everything else fades into the background until we’re forced to pay attention? i.e. some triggering event, challenging emotions, physical injury etc.



When we sit to meditate it can seem the mind is very busy, can’t get it to switch off or lots of challenging thoughts show up - this practice is not for me, or I’m doing it wrong, I can be doing something more productive etc.


This is not the fault of meditation and you ain’t doing it wrong, you’re simply seeing what the mind has been doing all along.


Without the usual daily stimuli and distraction - this is it.


You’re life - in this moment.


Acknowledge: you did not request for these things to arise, it was not your intention. You set the intention to focus on breathing or other sensations, and yet all the things still arise…


When you notice getting caught or lost in the mental activity, without judgement of the content or self-criticism you come back to your resting point i.e. the breath.


Over and over again. As you continue this process:


Focus > distraction > waking up > coming back to focus


You begin to recognise that you have a choice in whether or not you engage in what shows up in your experience. Remember, you didn’t intentionally request for these things to show up - so why take ownership or engage in it all?


New relationship to thought

And then in space you’ve created between stimulus and response, you reclaim control. And you begin to see patterns.


This is why I have this as the first element in the process of transformation.

Meditation is the clear lens into the nature of your mind, it’s tendencies, the dominant thought patterns, the stories you engage in, the judgments, the reactivity, the connection to the body (or lack of), the attachments etc.

Transformation cannot be acheived thru bypassing what is here right now (I’ve tried and I kept coming back to the same lesson in different forms until it was learnt) - every aspect of the self needs to be seen and felt in the mind & body - contemplated upon and then take steps to integrate it into a new way of being, on the way to transformation.


There’s so much more to explore within ourselves than we know, and we’re barely scratching the surface here.


Our minds have this incredible power of imagination & creation - which is the foundation for transformation and ultimately creating the lives we want to live from the purest & deepest part of ourselves.


We just need to clean house first so we can reclaim this power.


Let’s walk together.x
Arjun