I discovered meditation in 2016 thanks to the Peace Revolution Self-Development program. Since then, I have learned to really appreciate its value. Today, I wanted to share with you a few lessons learned during the AMANI 4 fellowship in Himawan Sanctuary (Thailand), that can be transferred to our everyday life:
1- A holistic approach is always better
If you want to experience true peace during meditation, you have to respect the acts of discipline. While watching our language, refraining from intoxicants or from killing even the tiniest insects can seem trivial, these are very effective practices to stay mindful of our actions even outside the meditative state.
We tend to approach goals with a narrow focus without realizing that even the slightest changes in our habits can have a tremendous impact on us and our productivity.
2- Control or Peace: your choice
If you are a control freak, then you know how stress and anxiety can easily take over your life. Through meditation, we learn that peace comes from doing our best, then trusting the process. The more we want to control our meditation, the less likely we are to enjoy it.
It is wiser to take responsibility of what we can control and just let go of the rest. A peaceful mind is always clearer and more prepared to deal with challenges than an agitated mind.
3- It’s all about equilibrium
A peaceful meditation is one where there is a balance between Sati (Awareness) and Sabai (Physical and mental relaxation). If we are too Sati, we become tense and are more likely to have an unpleasant experience; if we are too Sabai, we are very likely to fall sleep.
In life as in meditation, excess in everything can be unproductive at best and even harmful in some cases. Therefore, it is important to learn moderation in everything we do.
4- You have the right to reset
If you have many distracting thoughts, it’s better to reset and start fresh than to stay focused on resisting them. While you might think that it means starting from scratch, you have already accumulated some level of peace, which means you are likely to go faster into the meditative state than the first time around.
The parallel in life is very powerful: if you made a bad decision, it is sometimes better to start again than to resist reality and live in pain. While it might feel like failure, you have accumulated some level of wisdom that shall be helpful in your future experience.
5- Be innocent and keep an open mind
Every meditation experience is different; and while there are some ways to prepare our practice, we can never be certain of the outcome. Therefore, we need to keep an innocent mind and be willing to go to the centre with no expectations in order to observe without judgment.
In life, we are mostly hurt and disappointed by our expectation than by other people’s actual behavior. Once we adopt an innocent mind, we can see life for what it is instead of what we want it to be, and thus be more peaceful and accepting of others.
6- Practice beats theory on any given day (Bonus! Be innocent, remember?)
Like anything that is worth pursuing, meditation requires a constant practice. Knowing the various techniques and acts of discipline is a very good start, but that is all it is: the start. If we really want to reach deeper levels of mindfulness and aspire to reach some level of enlightenment someday, then we have to invest the time and effort required.
Any professional athlete, artist, public speaker who has reached mastery level will confess spending countless hours practicing and perfecting their craft. In any field, success requires patience, discipline and humility.
So, are you interested in meditation, or are you committed to it? Join an online course to explore more!
Stay in Peace