Meditation

Meditation is a powerful life skill which can bring many positive benefits to our lives. Meditation can aid relaxation and can also be used to control stress, improve sleep patterns and memory. At a different level, meditation can improve spiritual awareness by awakening our psychic and spiritual capabilities. This allows us to go beyond what we understand as ‘intuition’ and start drawing on knowledge outside of our own minds. This sounds profound but is more to do with ‘feeling’ than just thinking. This allows us to communicate on different levels, interpret dreams and also understand the innermost feelings of ourselves and other people.

Meditation can also help us to achieve our true potential in life. This can be achieved by determining our path in life, then using positive affirmations are visualisation to realise our dreams and transform our lives. Affirmations use positive statements to give the mind a constructive focus. Visualisation goes one step beyond this by creating visual images to bring us closer to our goals.

For example, it can be all too easy to live our lives by being driven by the past, old habits and destructive patterns. Some of us may be dissatisfied by our jobs or feel that we are not following our true path in life. Relationships which feel as if they have become stuck in a rut perhaps that we know need some change or some work. If we allowed ourselves to be governed by these facts, our lives will never move forward.

If however, we are driven by our dreams and potential futures, this is a far more positive and constructive way to make the most of our lives. The phrase ‘there must be more to life than this’ can ring very true for many of us and indicates that we should be using our daydreams and secret ambitions to guide us towards a more fulfilling life. This does not mean that we necessarily need to take any drastic action, it can simply mean making some positive changes to enhance day to day living. This can be achieved at a simplistic level by answering the following set of questions as an example:

• How would you like to live your life in an ideal world?

• What gives your life purpose and meaning?

• What do you need at different levels in your life – such as physically / emotionally / mentally and spiritually?

• What are your secret ambitions and dreams?

• Does your work define you as a person and how important is it to you?

Answering these questions can help us to define our future path and work towards achieving it. What did you answers reveal? Are you satisfied in all areas of your life? Do you feel that your life has meaning and purpose? If not, wouldn’t you like to be able to achieve this? How could your life be made easier, more enjoyable? Meditation can help you work towards these issues and make positive changes to your overall lifestyle and general well-being.

On a practical level, Meditation is the ability to keep the mind focused. Concentration is something which we all feel that we can do easily but in reality, this is skill which requires practise. Meditation assists with this by focusing the mind. Even if we try to focus, the mind can wander and meditation trains the mind to suppress irrelevant or intrusive thoughts and gently brings the mind back to the focal point.

Breathing is a key part of meditation and again, breathing properly and deeply requires practise. Gradually this will become automatic and part of day to day life. This can aid relaxation and improve overall health. Breathing exercises are part of basic level and also advanced meditation and this can assist with developing psychic awareness.

Mediation is the ability to keep the mind focused and once this skill becomes more developed, Meditation is a state of being and one that changes the whole of your life. Shining Bright can assist with this and teach you valuable life skills to enhance your life and well-being.