26
Enlightenment Journal | 35
th
Anniversary Issue | Fall/Winter 2016–2017
Meditation Inspiration
Off the Cushion
Ann Hayes & Jeff Collins
Change your focus of attention, change your thinking, change your mind,
and change your life. It only takes a moment.
—Yogacharya O’Brian
How can our meditation practice support us in living with a peaceful and happy
heart as we maneuver through the daily 10,000 things?
A steady meditation practice brings many gifts—increased self-awareness,
resiliency, refined discernment, a more positive attitude, greater peacefulness and
even happiness! And these are just a few of the benefits that flow into our lives
when we give our meditation practice a chance.
Life is so much more pleasant when we can see the positive in each moment.
When we do, we lift ourselves up and we lift up those around us. Meditation
provides the mental distance that helps us refrain from over-reacting to the daily
challenges we experience as well as to what others say and do. When we notice
we have lost that true balance, meditation can bring us back into harmony with
all of life.
Our practice makes us exquisitely aware of the many thoughts that continu-
ally arise and then fall away in the mental field. This witness consciousness can
carry over to daily activity and with practice, we can recognize which thoughts
are the passing desires of restless ego that do not serve us well and let them drop
away. As we gain control over the contents of our minds through steady practice,
we are able to let negative thoughts subside, and rather than become attached to
them, reach a level of mastery that supports us in letting go of unnecessary stress
and attachment to outcome.
Our meditation practice refines our discernment about “what to do” or how to
best address challenging situations. How to proceed in life becomes clearer. Our
inner knowing—our intuition—becomes more refined and we learn to listen to
its peaceful energy and follow it toward our higher goals. As Roy Eugene Davis
tells us, "Do what you know you should do." The universe—and our meditation
practice—naturally supports our worthwhile goals.
Life is comprised of moments. The steadier our practice, the sooner we
encounter our “true nature” as bliss and the profound simplicity of deep joy and