Elevating Your Dwelling Place

Photo by Niklas Hamann on Unsplash

Does meditation eliminate the reactionary process? By taking up meditation and the yogic teachings, are you untouched by life's trials? Well, that is the goal! Certainly there are those throughout the centuries who have achieved the ability to rise above all complications, seeing all trials from beginning to end as a cosmic dream. Those of us who are not yogic masters, however, still ride the waves of experience, feeling the lows and highs.

That said, those who meditate even just a bit each day enjoy the huge benefit of getting through life's trials quicker and feeling them less acutely. People notice the difference of how something that may have taken days or weeks to get over before they adopted a meditation practice take only hours or a couple of days to get to the other side of. I have heard many people speak of this, and I have noticed it also in my own life.

In fact, this week I had the opportunity to see it myself. One evening I started noticing that everything going on around me was in conflict with how I would prefer it to be (this also brings up our old friend, expectations!). One of my kids was in a very negative space and I wasn't able to successfully redirect him to a healthier mindset. For hours everything he said was a complaint, and over time that became more and more frustrating. Then, someone inadvertently did something that directly impacted me which I didn't agree with, which caused me disappointment and further frustration. And finally, I read a message which made it clear that I had inadvertently upset someone, which caused me to feel guilty. By around 8:30 that evening, I was very clearly feeling out-of-balance and unharmonious with my true nature. I tried to remind myself that everything is an illusion, as the great teachings say and with which I whole-heartedly agree, but when you are in the middle of negative feelings and events those thoughts can be easier to manifest in the mind than penetrated into the heart.

Throughout the evening, I really tried to direct my thoughts to the "long game" of life and remind myself that all of this will pass, and again while that softened things a bit it didn't really thow me back into balance. We need to do what we can to keep control of our thoughts so they stay buoyant and don't pull us down too far, but that wasn't a complete cure for me. 

I went to bed knowing that sleep would smooth things out a bit. The passage of time in and of itself offers some balm, and the restoration and healing of sleep is really beneficial. I woke up and I did feel better in myself, but there were definitely still barnacles of negativity attached to me from the evening before. I was still seeking to be forgiven my trespassing, and so did I need to get over the trespassing done to me. 

The complete healing did come throughout the day. In the morning I did my weekly long meditation. In the meditation, I asked for the divine to take my negative feelings. Everything we experience comes from The Source - however you choose to see that - and we can return it back to The Source through meditation. Our meditations are SO much more powerful when we accept there is something greater and ask for help! This something greater can even be thought of as your higher self - that part of you working behind the scenes for your greatest good. Call on that power to help you and see for yourself the results. 

I felt a lot better after my meditation. I had many things I needed to get done that day, such as wrapping Christmas gifts, but I wanted to try to keep that vibration going while I was "doing," so while I was wrapping presents I put on some recorded webinars from the Ananda Virtual Community* to keep my thoughts high-minded while I was wrapping the presents. 

I realized after a while that I was completely back in emotional balance. My negative feelings had dissipated. My guilt was gone. I was back in a peaceful state. So, it took maybe around 15-18 hours to get to the other side. Without my meditation practice and the yogic teachings I think I would still be dragging around those barnacles today. I am certainly grateful for the gift of the added hours of peace!

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*The Ananda Virtual Community has been so important to me over time. I don't receive any compensation for mentioning them - I am only doing so to share from my heart because I really, really love this community and maybe it could be special to you, too. My podcast partner, Alessandra, and I will start leading an online meditation twice per month in the new year through this community, which I am so honored to be doing. So, if you are interested in trying it out know that you will already have a friendly face there! I believe they offer a free 2-week trial.