Once upon a time there were two monks who were passing by a jungle to reach their monastery. They reached near a river and they had to cross that river to reach their monastery as it’s on the opposite bank of the river.
Both monks know swimming and so they went in water but they saw a girl was sitting on a rock near the bank of the river so the first monk asked her,“What are you doing here in this jungle?” The girl replied sadly,“I am stuck here in this jungle. My home is on the opposite bank of the river and I don’t know how to swim and no boat is there to bring me to the opposite bank of the river.” Can you help me to cross the river?,asked the girl to the first monk.
The monk got confused and went on thinking, how can I help this girl? The second monk was hearing all the conversation so he told the first monk,“Let it be, she will get some other help, we are monks and we can’t even talk to girls. It’s your mistake why are you talking to this girl?”
And after telling this the second monk jumped into the river to swim and go to the opposite bank of the river. But the first monk was compassionate and he told to that girl,“please sit on my back i will drop you to the opposite river bank. The girl became happy and grateful to the monk and she sit on his back. They reach to the opposite river bank and the girl dropped down from his back told him thank you and moved on her way to home.
But when the second monk watched this,he became very angry but he didn’t say anything to the first monk and they again started their journey to reach the monastery. Now the whole way till they reached the monastery, the second monk was thinking and getting angry for the kind gesture of the first monk to that girl. He wasn’t able to make peace in his mind and so he burst in anger on the first monk after they reached their monastery.
He got very irritable and angry and asked the first monk,“Are you crazy? How have you forgotten the rules of our monastery?How can you dare to help that girl and allow her to sit on your back?”
The first monk smiled and told the second monk peacefully, “My dear friend, i have dropped that girl on that river bank but you are still carrying her in your mind?”
That means you didn’t notice all the beauty of nature surrounded on our path to this monastery,you missed to hear the chirping of birds, you missed the fragrance of beautiful flowers, you missed to savor the taste of that coconut water which we drank on our way.
So, to be mindful means to be present in a moment, paying attention to and accepting what is happening in our lives. It helps us to be aware of and step away from our automatic and habitual reactions to our everyday experiences. To get peace of mind you have to cultivate a habit to be mindful in routine life.
What is peace of mind?
It is a state of mental and emotional calmness which you have to learn to cultivate. In this state, you experience peace,happiness and a sense of freedom. This mental state enables you to have more control over your thoughts. It becomes easier to reject negative bothering or unwanted thoughts. It gives an ability to live and focus on the present moment.
Peace of mind is within reach for everyone, you may live a busy life, have demanding job and family responsibilities yet you can enjoy peace of mind.
So,it’s there within you. We all have the natural ability to live in the present moment but we forgot the most essential thing to live life peacefully. When you stop living in the past and worrying about future and just be there in the present moment,you will enjoy your life by having peace of your mind.
To live in the present moment one must have to practice MINDFULNESS in routine which is our innate quality and we have to cultivate these qualities with simple practises that are scientifically demonstrated to benefit yourself,your loved ones, friends, neighbors,colleagues and so on.
I SAID GOODBYE TO OLD KEYS
I said goodbye to old keys,
Faded welcome mats,too
chipped porcelain,torn feelings
that were no longer true:
Bad connections,
warped reflections,
and high expectations
I couldn’t hold on.
I said goodbye to old keys,
Bye to saying too long
when it’s better to leave.
And goodbye to the
land of fabricated ideals,
Goodbye make- believe.
Hello, what is real?
Goodbye overthinking.
Hello,let it be.
I said, hello cloudless mind,
rolling hills and new scenes.
Mindfulness means to be in the present moment and be aware of your thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations and surroundings without any judgment and resistance. These practices were designed for monks who lived in monasteries.
In the modern world, mindfulness has been found to promote mental health and happiness for many people. Research suggests that mindfulness can improve your mood,reduce negative thinking,and ease stress. It can also help to enhance productivity,concentration and creativity.
How can you be mindful in routine life?
> Limit multitasking:
As much as you can, do one thing at a time and give it your full attention. Avoid switching back and forth between tasks. Famous author and psychologist Mary Pipher says in her book Seeking peace: ‘A very simple definition of mindfulness is doing one thing at a time.’
>Practice mindfulness when you are with others.
Listen closely to people, whether they are new acquaintances, close friends, or relatives, and try not to interrupt. Focus on what others are saying-not what you want to say next. Listen to them without any judgment and resistance.
>Take a pause every 2 hours and watch your breath.
Have you ever noticed that you do many things on autopilot mode in routine? Like brushing your teeth, bathing,eating, washing, etc. We are doing all such activities without being aware of ourselves. So it is very important to take a pause between your daily work. Taking a pause and concentrating on your breathing will help you to come back to the present moment easily. Otherwise while doing any such work our mind either dwells in the past or goes into the future which will not allow us to do any work up to the mark and with satisfaction.
>Use all of your five senses.
Let yourself see, hear, smell, touch, and taste your world. Before you peel an orange, smell it, notice its color, and feel its texture. Eat the orange slowly. Observe your reactions. Does the orange have a different taste or bring more pleasure when you take time to savor it?
When you sit to sip some tea or coffee, bring your complete focus to it. Take in tea’s scent, savor its taste, and feel its warmth.
Sit outdoors with your eyes closed. Notice the sounds of birds, the scent of the flowers, and the feel of the breeze on your skin.
Like this, try to stay in the present moment instead of dwelling on what has happened in the past or may happen in the future. Using all your senses will make you more aware of your surroundings and may make you appreciate them more.
>Try a progressive muscle relaxation technique
This technique may help if physical tension makes it hard for you to practice mindfulness.
Sit or lie down in a quiet place. Then tense and relax different muscle groups one at a time. Start by holding out your right arm and making a fist. Tense your right arm and fist for a slow count of 10. Then relax your arm and fist for a slow count of 10. Repeat with your left arm. Then do the same with your legs, stomach, and other muscle groups.
Be patient with yourself. Avoid judging or criticizing yourself if being mindful is hard at first. It can be a challenge to stay in the present moment if you are used to multitasking. Stick with the process,if only for a few minutes a day. With regular practice, it will get easier.
Practiced consistently and over a period of time, mindfulness can lead to positive changes in your life and you will certainly attain peace of mind.
It is also about being effective in the world.’
Meditation is not about becoming a different person, a new person, or even a better person. It’s about training in awareness and getting a healthy sense of perspective. You are not trying to turn off your thoughts or feelings, you are learning to observe them without any judgment. And everything you may start to better understand as well.
Learning to meditate is like learning any other skill. Think of it like exercising a muscle that you have never really worked out before. It takes consistent practice to get comfortable.
Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace, and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and overall health. Meditation will help you to change your attitude towards life and provide peace of mind and happiness from within. It helps you to achieve a better understanding of yourself and others. Meditation improves concentration level, memory, creativity and also makes you feel rejuvenated.
• Meditation means making our mind empty. Meditation is ending the wasteful thought stream of your mind.
• Once our mind is more or less empty,we have tremendous capability of receiving energy around us. This leads to good physical health and clarity in thought process leading to a joyous life
• Anyone can practice meditation. Most of the meditation techniques is to consciously observe the natural breathing. Conscious breathing allow us to bring our attention to our breath again and again by consciously cutting down on the unnecessary thoughts which distracts us.
• Meditation is very easy to practice and can be done at any time of the day but make sure you do it on empty stomach or keep a gape of minimum 2 hours after eating food before you sit for meditation.
• To meditate,one can sit in a comfortable posture with eyes closed because 80% of the stimulation to our brain occurs through our eyes. Closing your eyes will restrict the outward flow of 80%of body energy.
• You can meditate from 5 min to 1 hour depending upon your choice and comfort,once or twice in a day. Best suitable time for meditation is early morning when you get up and at night before you go to sleep.
Now let’s see how consistent practice of different types of meditation rewires your brain for happiness, peace, and success.
IMPORTANT BENEFITS OF PRACTICE OF MEDITATION
1: Meditation reduces stress
Meditation is incredibly effective at reducing stress and anxiety. One study found that mindfulness and zen-type meditations significantly reduce stress when practiced over a period of three months. Through studies, it has been found out that mindfulness meditation helps you to make better decisions by improving the functioning of your brain’s decision-making center.
Another study revealed that meditation literally reduces the density of brain tissue associated with anxiety and worrying. If you want your stress levels to plummet, meditation may be the answer.
2: Meditation increases your sense of well-being
Want to fill your life with happiness and energy? Mindfulness meditation increases your psychological functioning and in the process improves your sense of well-being. Yoga and tai chi have been found to do this also – according to studies, they have significant therapeutic effects and increase the quality of life when practiced regularly.
3: Meditation increases your sense of connectedness and empathy
Feeling a little disconnected from those around you? Try compassion meditation. Lovingkindness meditation (sometimes called Metta) is a compassion-based meditation that enhances brain areas associated with mental processing and empathy. It also increases your sense of social connectedness. Not a hugging person? You just might become one after trying metta!
Would you love to add razor-edge focus to your life? Research shows that meditation improves cognition and increases your ability to perform tasks requiring focus. One study tested a variety of different meditation types, including Transcendental Meditation, Vipassana, Tibetan Buddhist Meditation, Sufi Meditation, and Hindu Meditation, and found that they all improve focus by varying degrees.
5: Meditation improves relationships
Want to strengthen your relationships? Meditation has been shown to improve your ability to relate to others. It improves your ability to empathize, and it hones your ability to pick up on cues indicating how others are feeling. Meditation also increases your emotional stability, making you less likely to be influenced by any negative people in your life. Self- awareness meditation and forgiveness meditations are useful in improving your relationships.
6: Meditation makes you more creative
Ever feel like you could use some more inspiration? Meditation increases your creativity. Try out improving focus and concentration meditation.
7: Meditation improves memory
Whether you want to become a memory champion or you simply want to remember the name of that guy who works down the hall, meditation can help. Research has shown that it improves your ability to memorize things and to store and consolidate the new information. Try focus and concentration improvement meditation.
8: Meditation improve your ability to make decisions
There’s a reason high-powered executives turn to meditation to help them do their jobs better. Studies have found that both mindfulness meditation and Transcendental Meditation help you make better decisions by improving the functioning of your brain’s decision-making centers. If you want to start cultivating your inner executive, give meditation a try.
9: Meditation helps people overcome addictions
Do you know someone who has struggled with addiction? One of the most beautiful effects of meditation is that it can help people overcome powerful addictions. One fascinating study found that Vipassana meditation can be incredibly effective at helping people overcome alcohol and drug-related addictions, and similar effects have been found for various types of meditation.
11: Meditation enhances your immune system
Do you get sick more often than you would like? Believe it or not, a variety of different types of meditation, from mindfulness to yoga, have been shown to strengthen the human immune system and make you more resistant to viruses and infections.
12: Meditation helps you find “flow”
Have you ever felt totally, utterly absorbed in the moment? Maybe you were playing a sport or painting a picture, and the world around you just seemed to vanish. This is called “flow,” and is a rare state where the human mind is operating in complete harmony with itself when you reach a challenge perfectly suited to your abilities. Meditation can help you reach this amazing state of mind.
13: Meditation reduces physical and emotional pain
Perhaps the most amazing benefit of meditation is that it has the capability to reduce mental and emotional pain. We have many negative emotions buried in our subconscious mind, those emotions or bad experiences of life come up when we face similar life situations again in our life which we faced in the past and developed some hurt or emotional trauma. This past emotional hurt or any disbelief gets stuck in our body for a long time and when we face that kind of the same situation again in our life we feel pain in our body depending on which part of our body is affected. For example, we feel pain in the lower back or lump in the throat or butterfly in the stomach or heaviness in the heart, or vague pains in different parts of our body. The famous author and contemporary teacher Eckhart Tolle called it a ‘ PAIN BODY.’So with daily practice of meditation, you can release all those stuck pain bodies from your physical body and can have peace of mind back. Eckhart Tolle has a very
simple but profound message: “THERE IS A WAY OUT OF SUFFERINGS AND INTO PEACE.”
14: Meditation takes you towards enlightenment?
Traditionally, the goal of meditation is to reach Enlightenment or a state of perfect happiness and understanding. But it requires a lot of dedication, control over all your five senses, and a strong belief in oneself.
So, make mindfulness a part of your daily routine and meditate daily to get peace of mind. Always remember you have to introspect yourself in order to get peace of mind. For that, respond to the life situations or people rather judge or react towards them.
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