It's been a while since I posted, obviously, and a lot has happened; but in the interim I have learned a lot about the same old stuff. Mainly the worth of daily meditation.
So I sit still for a while? Big deal! At the end of any given meditation session I woulod be hard pushed to articulate what the benefits were. Perhaps that it gives a nice, unhurried start to the day. Perhaps it teaches me that I am master of my own timetable and some other things besides. Perhaps it reminds me that I don't have to be at the beck and call of my impulses, for a few minutes, anyway. But none of those come anywhere near describing the true benefits.
It's only over the long term that the effects of my daily silence can be guaged. After some weeks, or even months I notice subtle but powerful changes. Body, mind spirit I am clearer and less hurried. Even in the times when I am not silent - in fact particularly in the times when I am not silent - God seems closer and more accessible. Ideas flow better. Stress and it's attendant pilot fish of bodily dysfunction are frightened off when they are still just looming shadows. Spiritual exercise is a bit like physical exercise, I suppose. You go for your walk around the block once or twice and wonder whether it really is worth the effort; you do it daily for a month and notice the way your breathing and waistline and heartbeat have all pleasingly decreased.
When I take the time to be still, to practice the discipline of letting go, everything, but everything works better.
So I sit still for a while? Big deal! At the end of any given meditation session I woulod be hard pushed to articulate what the benefits were. Perhaps that it gives a nice, unhurried start to the day. Perhaps it teaches me that I am master of my own timetable and some other things besides. Perhaps it reminds me that I don't have to be at the beck and call of my impulses, for a few minutes, anyway. But none of those come anywhere near describing the true benefits.
It's only over the long term that the effects of my daily silence can be guaged. After some weeks, or even months I notice subtle but powerful changes. Body, mind spirit I am clearer and less hurried. Even in the times when I am not silent - in fact particularly in the times when I am not silent - God seems closer and more accessible. Ideas flow better. Stress and it's attendant pilot fish of bodily dysfunction are frightened off when they are still just looming shadows. Spiritual exercise is a bit like physical exercise, I suppose. You go for your walk around the block once or twice and wonder whether it really is worth the effort; you do it daily for a month and notice the way your breathing and waistline and heartbeat have all pleasingly decreased.
When I take the time to be still, to practice the discipline of letting go, everything, but everything works better.
