Opening to Meditation
Trust Yourself
You Already Have Everything You Need
By Diana Lang | Posted 5/7/15
a selection from Opening to Meditation
Is there a right way to meditate? There are hundreds of ways to meditate developed over thousands of years from many, many traditions. However, all meditation, in theory, works. It’s important to find a style that resonates with you and that somehow feels familiar. There are still basic methods that will allow you to have an easier and more successful experience. However, there is no wrong way to meditate. You don't have to sit in a certain position, or say a mantra, or light a candle. Just sitting quietly and becoming aware of the breath is a meditation.
One of the purposes of this book is to show you that you need nothing outside your self to take your next spiritual step. You already have everything you need.
Your next step is the one that’s right in front of you, the one you can take right now. If you let your inner knowing guide you, you can’t go wrong. Your next step almost always feels simple, natural, even ordinary. We sometimes expect great changes to happen in our lives instantly, in some dramatic fashion, with a bang, but that rarely happens. More often it is simply a matter of putting one foot in front of the other until, inevitably, some momentous event occurs; it looks like a miracle from the outside, but your personal experience of it most likely feels normal and natural. We’re always looking for some breathtaking, heart-stopping spiritual event to know we’ve arrived, when in fact it is most often as ordinary as exhaling.
All it takes is an understanding of a few basic truths: We are far greater beings than we think we are. We have a vast and eternal spirit in addition to these physical bodies. Where we are at this moment, how we are, and who we are, are perfect. There is no secret recipe; there is no magic formula. It is all as it should be, a perfect and gentle unfolding of your soul. If it feels difficult, it is only because you are out of touch with your true self; you are out of the flow.
When we’re out of the flow, we’re out of sync with our soul. This creates a feeling of separation that in the moment feels real and true. When we feel separate, we are suffering from the painful illusion that we are unworthy in some way. This is a fallacy perpetuated by our smaller self, or by what is often called the ego. It can throw us off course and confuse our sense of direction.
Meditation is a direct route to inner harmony, balance, and peace. There are many methods that can take you where you want to go, but meditation is by far the quickest and most precise. Its effects are cumulative and lasting.
When this life is over, you won’t take your possessions, your degrees, or your deeds with you, but you will take the consciousness you have built up from your meditation practice. Through your meditation, your consciousness changes and evolves. You become aware of who you really are. The consciousness you build in this lifetime is your ever-increasing legacy.
This consciousness is who you are. •
Next: You Are Good »
Excerpted from Opening to Meditation © copyright 2015 by Diana Lang. Printed with permission from NewWorldLibrary.com. More »He's promoting this philosophy: To remain competitive in the global economy, America needs to reinvigorate the kind of creativity and innovation that has made this country great. To do so, we must nourish our children's creative skills. In addition to giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the new global context, we should also encourage the ability to think creatively that comes from a meaningful arts education. This objective of
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