What is Meditation?

These days everyone wants to meditate, but doesn’t know how to start or if they do meditate, if they are doing it right. The reason everyone is running confused about this new age solution to all ills, is that no one knows what meditation means to them. To different people it can mean different things. If you take a scientist he will tell you how meditation helps the brain shunt between hemispheres. 

A management consultant will let you know with no uncertainty that meditation is the number one stress management technique out there. An artist will say that meditation is what allows him to find creative insights or inspiration for their work. While a spiritual seeker would choose to view meditation as a way to access the higher self or even God. 

What Does Meditation Do?

Just as people differ in their opinion of what meditation is, they also seem to have a problem trying to figure out what the best meditative practices are. That’s because no matter how different and often conflicted their notions of what meditation does for them, most of what they say they have experienced due to meditation is true. Meditation will lower your stress, just as much as it is likely to give you creative inspiration to work on. 

Yes, the way you meditate will make a difference as will the intention with which you go about said meditation. We meditate to find meaning in our lives the way we see it. Meditation is a highly personal process because you are looking at connecting to your own inner power, higher self, potential desires and intimate feelings. So naturally you will be looking at a whole lot of self love coming into play when you set aside time to meditate.

How Should You Meditate?

No two people in the world are absolutely alike and no single meditation process can claim to work for both of them. This is why there are so many meditation techniques. Some prefer to be with their own thoughts and work through emotions silently. Others prefer to blank out all thoughts and focus on a single mantra or an affirmation that they keep repeating to themselves. There are people who meditate to beautiful soothing music, so that they can blank out any other stimulus. 

Then there are those who wish to be guided by someone else’s voice into a deeper meditative state where they can let go and relax totally leaving the responsibilities of coming out to meditation to the person guiding them. The only way you can know for sure what type of meditation suits you best is to try them out and see what resonates with you and your needs. 

Just like with communicating with you higher self, there is no right or wrong way to meditate. There are only ways that you enjoy meditating, and those that you don’t. The truth is that anyone can develop their own meditation techniques and benefit from them deeply, as long as you set a strong intention about how and why you are meditating to begin with.

Forgive Them for Your Health

There is a lot said about forgiveness as a tool for spiritual growth. By letting go of the resentment and negative feelings associated with “bad” situations from the past, one is able to move on to a lighter, more positive space. When you hold on to resentment you cannot be happy. You can’t manifest quickly with the Law of Attraction because instead of focusing on what you want to attract into your life, you are thinking about all the nasty things someone said to you in the past.

You can’t figure out why you are unconsciously sabotaging all the good in your life, but it all stems from the lack of forgiveness. The accumulation of all this negativity may also take a toll on your own health. There is a tendency for illness to gather in a person who is unable to see the positive aspect of life. That alone should be reason enough for you to let go of the past hurts and resentment by forgiving the people involved and the situation.

How to Forgive Someone You Are Not Speaking With

Many times the person who has caused you to feel hurt will not be on speaking terms with you. You may just never want to talk to them. Or they have moved away to a different city, state, country and you don’t know where they are. They may even no longer be alive. In this situation, you may wonder how you get to do forgiveness work. 

Simple Meditation Solution: One easy way to forgive someone in this category is to go into a meditative state and first connect with your own Higher Self. Here you clarify your intention to forgive the soul who has hurt you. Now let your Higher Self connect with the Higher Self of the person who you wish to forgive. As you feel the energy body of their Higher Soul say that you forgive them for all the transgressions that they have made. Make sure that you speak from the heart and if you like you may even say these words out loud. Speak as long as you wish and when you are ready to leave, bless the Higher Soul of the other person and travel back to your present space.

This is a simple but powerful meditation which you can repeat as often as you like with the same person, or even with different people at different times. The idea is to clear all the negative feelings that you are hanging on to in your soul’s energy body.

Using Affirmations for Forgiveness : You can even use this simple affirmation from Louise Hay when you do mirror work if you don’t want to dwell on a single individual or instance. Here is a single affirmation which encompasses all the past events without dredging up any negativity while you speak it out loud. You can choose to use this one or make up a more personalized version for yourself.

Affirmation : “I forgive everyone in my past for all perceived wrongs. I release them with love.”

Tools to Overcome Life’s Challenges

There is no perfect life. Even the happiest souls have to face challenges to stay positive. The only difference between someone you perceive as being happy most of the time and yourself is the way you react to challenges. Given here are some common tools that can help you overcome the challenges that come your way.

Affirmations

These are positive statements that can be used to draw what you wish into your life. By repeating this statement every day for at least fifty times in front of the mirror, you give power to the wish. You can use them to replace negative thoughts that tend to intrude in your head. That way you will be filled with positivity and attract good experiences and people towards you.

Meditation

There are different forms of meditation, not all of which will be suited for your purpose. Some help you to relax, others help you to clear your mind and be receptive to messages from your higher self, others allow you to focus your concentration on what you need to achieve, and others still allow you to cleanse your chakras and aura. By learning different meditation techniques you help yourself in different aspects of your life.

Visualization

The ability to create in your mind’s eye what you wish to see in your real life is called visualization. We begin with a simple picture that you can easily bring to mind. Then we add layers such as the sensation of smell, touch, and even taste. When the picture that you create in your mind is as real as the actual event happening before you, you have a successful visualization.

EFT

Emotional Freedom Techniques help when you need to address negative, fearful emotions that are affecting your ability to function effectively. It is done by tapping on the specified points on the body. There is nothing difficult about learning EFT and you can find enough material online to teach yourself the basics of the tapping techniques.

Connection with Higher Self

While a part of you is made up of the gross body on earth, there is another free spirited part of your soul which can travel where it wants. This higher self is in a state of consciousness that can help provide you with all the answers that you seek.  Forge a stronger connection with your higher self in order to receive the information that will make your life easier and more fun.

Get Centered and Connect with Spirit through Energy Work

We are basically all different forms of energy. Those who can learn to manipulate this energy are able to attract what they want and repel what they dislike. Through energy work schools of thought such as Pranic Healing, Reiki and Acupressure it is possible to subtly manipulate the energy field of the body and rid it of disease. You can also use these techniques to enhance your ability to grow spiritually.

These tools are easily available for you. All you have to do is ensure that you use them to deal with the challenges that life throws at you. Rather like preparing for a marathon, you need to run every day in practice to be able to run the entire length on the final day. Similarly you need to use these tools every day in order to ensure that they do not desert you in your hour of need.