"Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now."
~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
When you hear the word meditation, you probably envision a person sitting still in a remote, quiet and peaceful place. It makes sense because this is a great way to practice. You do not want anything to distract you or to stimulate your mind. In meditation, you want to focus on your breath, stillness (especially mental) and being present. This practice is not easy for most people because our lives have become more hectic than ever. Our minds are so used to receiving constant stimuli (texts, emails, app notifications, phone calls, etc.) that they have a difficult time shutting off and becoming still.
This is why meditation is known as a practice though. The more often you practice, the easier it becomes to do. With meditation, your attention is redirected inwardly. You are trying to turn off or ignore the external world and tune into your inner world. The mind or ego, when it is unhealthy, will fight you on this exercise because it is addicted to all of the outside stimuli.
Every time you meditate, your ego is silenced. The unhealthy ego is threatened by this silence because it loses control of you. As I shared in the previous video, ‘Ego-Driven vs Soul-Driven’, the unhealthy ego is like the talented star player who wants all the glory and to drive the team (body, mind and spirit). Through meditation, you tune into a deeper part of yourself – spirit. Spirit is infinitely wise, serene, joyous, complete and perfect. Without the conscious inclusion of spirit, your ego and life will likely be quite messy.
Practicing meditation regularly can be life-changing. You learn to tap into this wonderful and powerful part of yourself which melts away your egoic-based stresses. Unfortunately, many people, especially in Western society, completely ignore spiritual practices which results in Spiritual Bankruptcy. As a result, many people are usually overwhelmed with stress and not really enjoying their lives (or at least, as much as they can be). If this sounds like you then doing some simple mediation exercises is a great place to start.
However, I always like to remind people that the practice of meditation is supposed to prepare you for real life. This is the meaning of the title, Meditation to “Live-Attention”. You don’t practice so that you can forget about it until the next time you meditate. You practice so that you can integrate what you learn into real-life situations. It is far easier to be calm and relaxed in a solitary and peaceful environment than a highly stressful one. Meditation helps make you be more mindful of your stress and tension. Therefore, stressful environments provide the ultimate training ground for mindfulness. The more you meditate, the more you will be able to catch yourself losing control of your inner state as a result of an external stimuli.
If someone sends you a nasty text for instance, you will likely experience several explosive feelings arise almost instantly. In this moment, you can either react or observe yourself. You could choose to give in to the external stimuli and retaliate or breathe, stay calm and retain your power over your state of being. Remember, we cannot control the external world, but we can control how we respond to it. The sooner you understand this truth, the sooner you will be able to manage your stress better, take back your power and live attentively.
Your V10 Health Coach,
Sal Crispo P.S. If you are interested, I also make a coaching video for each of these posts on YouTube. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel so you do not miss out on any of the valuable content I share. Here is the link for this post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T8ahGnK_yM