Today I’m excited to present a guest post from author Paul Maurice Martin.  Paul’s experiences with Trappist monks as well as years in education help him lend a unique perspective to the topic of meditation.  Enjoy! —S.

Meditation is often discussed online today. But sometimes I think it’s discussed to the point of making it sound more complicated than it is.

Essence of Meditation

Shut up, mind! – Honestly… that’s it. We talk to ourselves constantly – most of us without actually moving our lips or muttering unless it’s a really bad day. Still, we’re continuously planning, problem solving, and reacting to events around us or to remembered events.

Meditation’s Purpose

If you get your mind to be quiet it does things you didn’t know it could. I’d truly recommend that you not do a lot of reading about meditation before trying it out. Otherwise part of what you’ll need to not think about is your expectations about meditation – and you already have enough not to think about.

Besides, who can say exactly what you’ll get from it? Some just find it relaxing. Others have major spiritual experiences or notice gradual improvement in how they feel about themselves in their day to day lives. Others get nuthin — nuthin!

Three Steps

1. Have a seat – But don’t get too comfortable. You’ll want to sit up straight. A recliner’s no good; it’s too easy to get sleepy.

2. Relax – Take a couple minutes to take a deep breath, relax your muscles, clear your head, and then…

3. Pick a word – the one you’ll use for your meditation sessions – and start using it. Something simple that you like. Make it one syllable. Examples: love, God, peace. It could even just be a sound, like the traditional “Om…”  Gently repeat the word each time you exhale.

You’re really going to need this word. It has one purpose: when your mind starts to wander off to what you’re planning for lunch or whether you remembered to take the trash out, it’s your anchor.  At every exhalation you’ll refocus back to just the sound of the word and not its meaning. The word is to disrupt and drive away your mental chatter.

Three Suggestions

  • Start off with whatever you can take – probably two to five minutes. At first it’s really hard not to think.
  • Work up to twenty or thirty-minute sessions that fit with your schedule – for example, twice a day, once a day, or (at least) once every other day.
  • All you can do is try it out. Some people don’t get anything out of it and stop. However, I’ll mention that I was just about to stop after several months of nothing happening when things started happening. From then on, it changed my life.

Book – and a Free eBook – with More Stuff Like This…

Paul Maurice MartinPaul Martin is author of Original Faith: What Your Life Is Trying to Tell You and blogs at Original Faith, where you can download his free eBook, Original Faith: Hard Times Handbook and learn more about book and author. 

Editor’s Note: I recommend reading Paul’s bio at his website; he’s got an interesting backstory that makes his perspective on faith even more inspiring.

Similar Posts:

If you enjoyed this, please take a second to pass it on:
  • Mixx
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • E-mail this story to a friend!