How to meditate

Meditation is a self-talk. Noone but you involve in this. You need to do it alone. I understand that many people find it uncomfortable to have a self-talk. My friends learned meditation but they did not continue this because they do not enjoy having a self-talk.

Meditation is a practice for the mind

How to talk to yourself? A friend asked me this question.
You can’t talk to yourself until the self is ready to listen. The self is not ready to listen due to the noise in the mind. So you need to make the mind calm first. Observe what is going on in the mind. Just observe. Put yourself as a detached observer. If you can put yourself as a detached observer for quite a while, then you will notice that your mind starts to calm down. Only then you can start talking.

The following is an example of meditation commentary to help you to have a self-talk. This is not a mantra. Meditation is not not a religious practice, so you can free yourself to create your own, in your own language.

Meditation commentary – Body and Soul
I remind myself that I am not just this physical body. Inside this body there is the true me. A pure spirit. I am the spirit living in this body. I am light. I am subtle. I am the energy inside this body. I am eternal. I am not growing older, I will never die. A spirit never dies.

This body is the vehicle for the soul. I am the soul, driving this body. I take the control of the body. I am aware of my mind and what it creates. I am aware of every thought that I create. I listen to my mind. I listen to myself. I am aware the 3 personalities within me. I am aware that they keep speaking. I listen. I observe.

I make this time to listen to myself. I listen to the voice in my head. The voice of the 3 personalities in me.
I make this time to see myself inside.
I make this time for myself.
I take care of myself.

Meditation

Meditation is one of my self-care routines to boost my energy level quite instantly. I have heard many questions on meditation like “How to mediate?” “How to focus the mind?” “How to make the mind concentrated?” “How to control the mind when it starts wandering while I am sitting to meditate?” I think many people have understood that meditation is an exercise for the mind. Let’s agree with this.

To meditate is not to empty your mind. The nature of the mind is to create a thought, to think, to be creative. Never expect that when your mind is empty (no thoughts) only then you will become peaceful, only then you can control it. Trust me it will never happen. In fact you need to let your mind be creative. When you start meditating, let your mind create some good thoughts. What kind of thoughts do you need to create? You are free to create any thought that elevates you. You are the creator. So you are free to create any thought. “I am a child of God. I belong to God. I am loved and protected.” “I am free. I am an angel for the world. I belong to everyone. I love everyone. I accept everyone.” “I am a giver. I always have something to give to the world – peace, love, courage, powers, support. I have what the world needs.” Never think that the thought you create is too high. Nothing is impossible for the spirit. After the mind creating that thought, let the intellect work on that thought by churning it. Let it extract a deeper understanding (wisdom) from that thought. Let it convince itself. Faith is then developed in the intellect. Then the heart will follow. It will generate very nice feeling. It becomes an elevated feeling to start the day, if you do it in the morning.

For me, meditation is not a religious practice, it is a spiritual practice. This is a practice for the spirit. So meditation is for everyone.

Energy Audit

If you have to draw your energy levels from the time you wake up till the time you go to bed, how is it like?

It is probably like this

When we just wake up, our energy level is definitely not low. Because at least our physical energy is just recovered through sleeping. Our body is in complete rest when we are sleeping. A good quality sleep is needed for a better recovery. Though our mind is not necessarily resting during sleeping.

During the day we are either creating energy or consuming energy through our physical activities and mental activities. “Mostly consuming energy” said a participant of a self care workshop I conducted last week. In the evening we might end our day having our energy level very low mentally and physically. We might feel so exhausted.

We need to take care our energy levels. We need to know when we over use our energy, when our energy gets drained, when we need to rest and recharge our battery. So we need to be aware of this. We need to develop this self awareness. This might be the first step to take care of the self.

Four dimensions of energy

We need energy to live. Energy is created, energy is used and it is replenished. Each one of us has the capacity to do this everyday. It has to do with how we are using our body and soul during the day. Most activities we have during the day is using our energy. You might feel very exhausted in the evening after having a very busy day. Your energy gets drained. You need to rest or sleep, because it is how you will take your energy back, your physical energy.

There are four dimensions of energy :
1. Physical (the body) : sleep, nutrition, day time rest, exercise
2. Emotional : happy positive and uplifting emotional state
3. Mental : focusing on one thing and one thing only
4. Spiritual (meaning or purpose) : this is the why you are doing what you are doing

How will you replenish your emotional, mental and spiritual energies?

Nothing can go wrong

Do you have any talent in drawing? I remember when I was in my school days, drawing was not my favourite subject at all. I have not been very good at it. I think I don’t have any talent in drawing. I always become very amazed when I look at a beautiful painting or drawing. In my heart I said I wish I had this talent. Those people can express their feelings into very beautiful art works. I really appreciate it as well as envy.

Until last week a friend introduced me to a doodling art. I joined her workshop on doodling. I never heard it before. It was an online workshop via Zoom. Basically you just draw anything your heart wants to draw….any shapes in any colors. You don’t need to erase anything, you won’t make ‘any mistake’, just keep drawing. No worries.

We were given 20 minutes to draw with piano music played as a background. I really enjoyed it. I thought my drawing turned out really well. I felt so good. At the end of the workshop each one of us had to share our drawing and show it on camera.

Someone reluctantly showed his drawing and said “I don’t know what I drawed, I think it doesn’t make a sense”.

My friend said “It doesn’t have to make any sense. Nothing can go wrong in this” This words sound very liberating to me. It is liberating the soul. I wished I heard these words long ago.

Just let the soul express its feeling and emotion freely. You will feel really good about yourself through this doodling.

Thank you Soni.

My debate partner

My friend has moved to Dubai since last few years for a family reason. We didn’t communicate much since then. Yesterday out of the blue we chatted. She told me how she has been going through the lockdown in her place. Then we chatted about many things. Random topics.

Suddenly I said to her: ”Hey, I remembered something. You were my debate partner.” When we lived in the same city, we went to the same meditation class. And in the class many times both of us involved in a debate on any particular topic. I remember that I always expressed my thoughts in a very strong way. This made her listen to me, though not necessarily agreed with me. But she had become a nice partner. Each one of us understood that we wanted to seek a better understanding on particular point we were debating, not to put any of us down. No. It was in fact a sweet debate.

Our memory flew back to our days when we did rediculous things together, like spending hours at Starbucks reading our favorite book and discussing it. I realize that it is very nice to have someone you may call a friend who has the same interest with you. You can talk or debate or have fun together. I miss that moments.

How to stay creative

Everyone wants to become creative. To become creative means to keep creating an idea and executing the idea. To be creative you need to have an open mind, a mind that is open to new ideas. Not a closed mind. An open mind is more accepting. An open mind finishes worries and fears inside. It is liberating. It is courageous. Life keeps changing and you need to cope with the change, unless you will be left behind. Life keeps moving, you need to move with it. Life keeps flowing, you need to go with its flow. Life is never static. You need the power to adapt yourself for this. This is a power that you need to develop from within.

How do you make yourself stay open-minded and creative? I think you need to make friend with the younger generations. Talk to them more. Listen to them more. They are very creative. They will bring newness into your creative process inside your head. Many are fast learners, especially in digital technology. You need to be humble in front of them. Learn from them. Keep this spirit of a learner inside you, this spirit will keep seeking and creating new things.

I have a very good friend who is an expert in computer, she is in fact a web designer. This weekend I have an online workshop. I have to prepare a presentation for this workshop. I realize that I am not very good at digital stuff, like downloading video, converting the file and sharing it on a presentation. I knew whom to ask. So I begged her time for a meet up. She is a really kind-hearted person. She taught me everything I needed to know from her. She is not only very good at computer but she is also very good at teaching. Very patient.

Million thanks, Michelle!

Your inner kingdom

Each one of us is a king in our inner kingdom, inside our heads. In your inner kingdom, you have three ministers helping you. The three ministers are your mind, intellect and your heart. They are your ministers and you are the king. They should listen to you. They should be always under your control. Are they working well? Are you controlling your ministers? How do you know that you can control them or not?

Hold a meeting with them everyday. Really make time for this. This is to know their well-beings. You have to control them and never let any of them control you or do any mischievous thing. You are the king, you should always sit on your throne. This throne is your seat of self respect. The seat of your wise self. Only when you remain seated on this seat, your three ministers will listen to you and obey your commands.

How do you know that they are under controlled? Your mind will only think what you want it to think. Your intellect will only remember what you want it to remember and your heart will only feel what you want it to feel. You will not say “I don’t want to think about it, but my mind keeps thinking about it. It gets pulled easily.” “I want to forget it, but I can’t.” “I am not peaceful.” This is the language you speak when you can not control them.

Live your life

When I am conducting a workshop on journaling I always suggest everyone to write their thoughts and feelings honestly. You are writing for yourself. You are not writing to publish a book, so be honest. No one will judge you. You are your own judge. But I found that this is the hardest challenge for most people when start journaling. The emotion behind it is always fear – fear if anyone knows their feelings inside. Fear of being judged by others. There is so much insecurity inside. You might have experienced this. This fear is blocking you from expressing the true feelings. It doesn’t free you. It doesn’t liberate your soul.

We might have been living under people’s judgement for a long time. You have to free yourself from this thought. You are here to live your life not to live in other people’s judgement. People will always judge you for whatever you are doing or feeling anyway. You need to develop courage from within. The first courage is to see the true self without any mask. Once this courage is developed, those people’s judgement will not affect you. You are not influenced.

The two faces of ego

Ego is the enemy of everyone. It resides in each and every of us. We have to conquer this enemy. How to conquer it? We have to know it. Only when we know this enemy well, then we can conquer it.

Ego has two faces – the inferior I and the superior I.

When you hear the voice of “I am excluded” , “I am not valued”, “They don’t respect me“, “I am a victim”. This is the voice of the inferior I. Can you hear this voice? How often do you hear this voice? This is the voice that brings you down again and again. If you keep listening to this voice, you will become weak. You keep listening to this voice and then you start believing in it. What you believe will become your reality (what you feel). You start feeling isolated, small or weak. Can you stop this voice? Do not let this voice keep echoing in your head. You need power to stop it. This is the power of the soul that you need. Develop this power, so you will become victorious in your internal battle. You are in fact battling with yourself (your ego). Your enemy is not out there, but right here, inside you.

At other time you might also hear the voice “I know better”, “I am more experienced”, “They should listen to me”, this is the voice of the superior I.

Both are the ego. Both are false. Both make you fluctuate internally. The real you is not inferior nor superior. Nothing can pull you down. Remain seated on the seat of the real I. This is the seat of self respect. If you remain seated on this seat, you will experience yourself to be a master. A master of the self. You are the king. You are royal.