Meditation-Mind Blog

 

“There is a place in you where there is perfect peace.
There is a place in you where nothing is impossible.”
—A Course in Miracles

***************************

“There is a silence into which the world cannot intrude.
There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost.”
—A Course in Miracles

***************************

“The only way to have peace is to teach peace.
By teaching peace you must learn it yourself.”
—A Course in Miracles

***************************

“Each little gift you offer to your brother lights up the world.”
—A Course in Miracles

***************************

“Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”
—Sy Miller and Jill Jackson, songwriters

***************************

These quotes on peace are in celebration of Peace Day, September 21, 2007
For more on how people all over the world are marking this day, check this link:
http://www.peaceoneday.org/home.aspx

I especially liked the video of the song, No Wars Will Stop Us Singing.

***************************

For the complete lyrics and the story of the song, Let There Be Peace On Earth, you can visit this site:
http://www.jan-leemusic.com/history.htm

 

If you have inner peace, the external problems do not affect your deep sense of tranquility. You are happy regardless of circumstances.
—Dalai Lama
************************************************
Therefore, in our daily life a certain way of thinking makes us happy, and a certain way of thinking makes us unhappy. In other words, there are certain states of mind which bring us problems, and they can be removed; we need to make an effort in that direction. Likewise, there are certain states of mind that bring us peace and happiness, and we need to cultivate and enhance them.
—Dalai Lama
*************************************************
Peace starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities.
—Dalai Lama

We spend most of our time and energy in a kind of horizontal thinking. We move along the surface of things going from one quick base to another, often with a frenzy that wears us out.  We collect data, things, people, ideas, “profound experiences”, never penetrating any of  them……

But there are other times. There are times when we stop. We sit still. We lose ourselves in a pile of leaves or its memory. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.

—James Carroll

***********************************

Inside yourself or outside, you never have to change what you see, only the way you see it.

—Thaddeus Golas

***********************************

Don Juan assured me that in order to accomplish the feat of making myself miserable I had to work in a most intense fashion, and that it was absurd. I had now realized I could work just the same in making myself complete and strong. “The trick is in what one emphasizes,” he said. “We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”

—Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan

 

1. Take a Deep Breath. Then do it again. Now once again. One of the simplest ways to relieve stress in a matter of moments is to change your breathing.

Have you ever noticed that when you’re feeling stressed you typically breathe very shallowly, often rapidly, or sometimes even hold your breath? That can’t be good.

We can relieve stress by intentionally slowing and deepening our breathing, which mimics the way we naturally breathe when we are most relaxed. Practicing the Inner Smile Meditation you’ll find here on the blog is one of many ways to slow and deepen your breathing and relieve any stress you may be feeling.

***
2. Laugh. Most of us just know intuitively that laughter is good for us. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, as I’m sure you’ve heard.

Laughter has become a real focus of study, especially because of the many ways it benefits our health: protecting our heart, easing pain, reducing blood pressure, aiding digestion and respiration, to mention just a few. For an in-depth article on the benefits of laughter, you might find this article on How Stuff Works interesting.

And to experience the benefits of laughter right now, you might enjoy reading some of these observations from the amazing mind of comedian Steven Wright. I love the way his humor just sneaks up on you until before you know it, you’re giggling.

****
3. Call a Friend. Sometimes a different perspective is all we need in stressful situations. There’s nothing like talking and laughing with a friend to help us see things differently. If the friend you’d most like to talk with is an old friend you’ve lost track of, you can look them up in the white pages at AnyWho.

***
4. Listen to Soothing Music. Music can transform our mood very quickly and ease feelings of stress. Hypnotherapists, meditation instructors, massage therapists, and Reiki masters all know how soothing the right music can be for their clients and all have their favorites.

Two of my favorites are on CD’s you can find at Amazon. Since I promised that these were 7 ways you could relieve stress right now, here are two links where you can listen to free samples of relaxing music.

The first is a beautiful version of Pachelbel Canon done by Gordon Jeffries“ and the second is Mike Rowland’s And So To Dream Highly recommended anytime you need to unwind.

***
5. Get Inspired. Sometimes just reading some wise, thought-provoking, inspiring or just plain funny thoughts from those who have been here before can help us shift our perspective in the middle of stressful times. Here are a few to start you off:

“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so” - William Shakespeare

****************************************

“I have given everything I see all the meaning that it has for me.” - A Course in Miracles

****************************************

“I could see peace instead of this.” - A Course in Miracles

****************************************

“In the depths of winter I finally learned there is in me an invincible summer.” - Albert Camus

****************************************

Check out a few more inspirational quotes.

***
6. Relax Completely. Taking yourself through a relaxation process that helps you to let go of the tension you’re holding in muscles all over your body is a very powerful way to relieve stress. Doing it on a regular basis helps you to keep your stress levels low.

You can use this script for a progressive relaxation in a number of ways.

You can just read it through to yourself to get the idea and then settle into a comfortable position as you follow the process. Sometimes people find it helpful to find a partner who will read it to them or some prefer to read it into a tape recorder and play it back for themselves.

No matter which way you choose to do it, whenever you follow the process, you will feel much more relaxed when you’re done.

Here’s the script for a progressive relaxation.

***
7. Experience Guided Meditation. Try one of the free beautiful audio samples on Belleruth Naparstek’s Health Journeys site.

Here’s one by Belleruth designed to soothe anxiety and stress. If she had an affiliate program, I’d sign up. Her stuff is wonderful!

 

 

“Meditation comes from the human heart and is a way of warming your hands and your life at the fire always pulsing there in your core. It comes from the depths of your instinctive wisdom. Human beings are always wondering and inquiring, and meditation is a natural emergence of that adventure.”
—Lorin Roche

*********************************************************

“Meditation was probably discovered independently by hunters, singers, dancers, drummers, lovers and hermits, each in their own way. People tend to encounter meditative states whenever they throw themselves with total intensity into life’s callings.”
—Lorin Roche

*********************************************************

“Always remember, have it as your touchstone, that meditation is being with that which you love. Your path in meditation will emerge from exploring what it is you love to pay attention to.”
—Lorin Roche

*********************************************************
Each of the quotes above are from Meditation Made Easy by Lorin Roche

 

I’ve been reading and re-reading a wonderful book called Meditation Made Easy by Lorin Roche. I’m going to have to write and ask Lorin if he meditates before he writes. What he writes is so authentic and so quotable that it gives me the feeling that he’s in close touch with a deep place within himself. It’s the place that athletes sometimes refer to as “the Zone” and others might call being in “the Flow,” - that experience of having all blocks fall away and letting all forms of creativity joyously and effortlessly express themselves. And luckily for us, he shares the results.

We’ve all heard that meditation (or the many other names it goes by) is good for us. But that doesn’t keep all the yes, but’s from coming up. Yes, but who has the time? Yes, but my family will think I’m weird when they hear all that ooom-ing. Yes, but I don’t have one of those cushions. Yes, but my legs won’t cross like that.

Well, Lorin Roche helps all those little yes, buts drop away and leads you to discover your own natural way of taking this inner vacation

He begins by telling the story of how he was introduced to meditation. Then he has a great question and answer section, looking at many of the yes, buts already mentioned, often letting his sense of humor show. To help you get a sense of what you’ll find, here’s a little of what Lorin has to say about sitting cross-legged:

“Sitting cross-legged works well for some people and it looks really cool. But this pose does nothing for meditation that can’t be done in other ways. The main virtue of the cross-legged posture is that it’s handy if you have no furniture, are homeless, or are outdoors.”

He goes on to suggest that you start with one of 3 beginning exercises depending on what you feel like doing at that moment. Here are some excerpts from one of those exercises, called The Feeling at Home Exercise:

“Set your mind free to wander over your life experience and recall instances when you have felt very, very comfortable. They could have occurred anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances.”

“If one of your memories of being at home is standing on a shore, there is the smell of the salt air, the sound of the surf, wind, and seagulls, the wetness of the spray on your face, the brilliance of the sun or the gray of the clouds and the blue rolling motion of the ocean. Immerse yourself in each of these; let yourself rejoice in each sense.”

“As the images and memories come, breathe with them. Enter the image, see the scene, breathe with the feeling you had in your body. When you do this, the feelings come into the present. You are, in the present moment, meditating on the feeling of ‘being at home.’ ”

There are many sweet little breaks like that in this book. Reading further, you’ll find a wide variety of mini-meditations, an exploration of breath, meditations on sound, ways of paying attention with love, thoughts on what to do about seeming obstacles, ideas for finding your own individual ways to meditate and even what Lorin calls The Meditation Top Forty.

I’m delighted to have found Meditation Made Easy by Lorin Roche. Following this link will let you check it out for yourself on Amazon.

************************************************

I love this book and I have Maya Talisman Frost to thank for introducing me to it last fall on her blog, Paying Attention to Mindfulness. You might enjoy watching her free movie called “The Wow of Wonder”, a series of beautiful thoughts and images. At the end of the movie, a page will come up that lets you sign up for her free special report, “The Dirty Little Secret About Meditation”, and free weekly newsletter, Friday Mind Massage. Great title, huh? Enjoy  :-)