If you are wondering about starting a new year by taking up 'Meditation', or cultivating 'Relaxation' techniques, you may be taking some first very beneficial steps on a rewarding journey. In this age of rapid technological 'advancement' and the 'intrusion' of so many devices and social media platforms that grab and demand our time and attention, it may be more important and challenging than ever to rein in the uncontrolled mind. It is easy to find levels of anxiety rising as the mind gets pulled in several directions at once. Concentration becomes difficult and disjointed, and thinking becomes more muddled and restless.
When the mind is quiet, it becomes like the surface of a lake that is still and calm; it reflects accurately everything around it. When the lake at night is still, we can see the moon clearly reflected. Throw a few pebbles in the lake and the moon is distorted by the ripples. We no longer see it clearly.
To relax, to meditate, to quiet the mind, will increase insight, contentment, mental and physical health.
Why the above headline?
Trying to relax is not relaxing
Trying to meditate is not meditating
We start our practice by throwing all that out. We arrive with no baggage, no tools to fix things. Any agenda is an agenda to fail. Any goal is a stick to beat ourselves with. We come with no pebbles!
We come home to be where we are, with things just as they are, because that is truth, that is clarity. We don't fix. We don't try. We just settle. We settle, and over time we become witness to an unforced transformation. It requires no poking, prodding or nudging. We don't tug at the unfolding petals of a flower.