Meditation Isn’t Just for Monks Essay

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Television will show us that the only people who meditate wear robes and live in candle-lit temples without any worldly possessions that we are so accustomed to valuing above all things. The truth is that meditation is one of the tools that these people use to sustain their inner well-being and reflect on their lives, and it is a smaller part of their spirituality-focussed cultures. I have always been curious of the power of our minds in a spiritual sense, and by learning from other cultures when my own failed to help me, I have found that people have already established many techniques for exercising the power they knew was there. I was in a bad place in my life because of my family problems, constant internal struggle, an absent feeling of purpose, and a loss of hope as I looked at the world around me. The wisdom I received from daily meditation has shown to be invaluable to my health and well-being, and it has helped me live a more meaningful and fulfilled life. A pure and effective state of meditation can be achieved by anyone if they follow some basic steps.
Meditation is a self-sustained mode of consciousness in which we see ourselves as our own awareness of ourselves. This awareness is the only real experience that we feel and everything else is created by our minds, even our physical vision of the world. I have learned that most of my troubles came from problems my mind created for itself. To meditate is to take time to separate from thought and body and just be aware of them and see how they relate to us as the nonobjective observer. When my mind presents me with a negative thought of any kind, such as thinking badly of myself or another person, I have the power to invest emotionally into that thought and dwell on it, or I can let it pass because a thought is not always true and negative thoughts just appear sometimes. In this way, I have learned that my spirit doesn’t have to be affected by negative thoughts. There are many forms of meditation to help accomplish different spiritual goals, but it is best to start with basic breathing meditation before trying advanced forms to practice the techniques that help separate a person from their thought and body.
The first step of any meditational exercise is to calm and relax the body. Find a quiet and distraction-free environment, like a bedroom or grassy field, so that we may focus on what we are doing. Sitting down with a straightened back will help us breathe deeply and stay awake. Now, the meditator should take about 20 deep breaths, feel the relaxing effect it has on the body, and close the eyes. An itch, cramp, or any physical distress might occur, but it is essential to clear these from our thoughts and be as still as possible because this will help us exercise our focus. We must pay full attention on our breathing, which is why we are in an environment free of distractions, and remain completely still and relaxed. While I am in these beginning steps, I can feel all thought lose its grasp. When I am completely thoughtless, I am living purely as awareness, the basic experience I have that manifests itself as my whole existence.
Thoughts will be distracting us along the way as we are trying to focus on our breathing, but clearing the mind of these thoughts and returning to our focus is key to this exercise. If I am having trouble with this, I will count out in my head each breath I take. After many repetitions of this, we should be feeling clear headed and relaxed. We will spend this next moment trying to have as few thoughts as possible, and to just be aware of them as they come and go. We cannot fully turn off thoughts, but we will find space between them, and as our meditation skills advance, we can increase the space between thoughts. It is ok to hear a sound, feel the wind, and smell the air, but as soon as we
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