Meditation is the art of detachment from the thoughts in the mind. For most of us this is a difficult thing to do, we are so used to being driven by the thoughts in our head, rather than ourselves driving the thoughts. Our thoughts create the level of happiness, success and satisfaction in our life. When we experience great suffering, and if we spend some time reflecting, we may realize that often, the thoughts that are responsible for the suffering, started a very long time ago—. Buddha, the great teacher of meditation, concluded that suffering is in the mind and his path was a way to end it. This ‘suffering in the mind’ is not a way to deny the actual experience, or suppress the suffering inside, to become better or more enlightened. This ‘suffering in the mind,’ is literally about watching the thoughts, sensations and feelings that arise, as if one is watching a TV show, but there is no TV guide for it. How freeing, how deeply empowering that is—there are few agendas, guidelines or judgements for this observation, it is instead a very compassionate and humble, non self negating acceptance of what is.
The way to change your life in the future, is to take control of your thoughts today, tomorrow, and always. Or you could wait, for life to give you something fantastic out of the blue, and then you could be happy! Many positive things must have happened in your life, but you may have regrets, feelings of lost opportunities or suffering about past choices. This may make it even more difficult to create the happiness you want today, unless you take charge of your mind and yourself. Meditation is the only way to master yourself and thereby your life. Nobody can do it for you, they can only guide you, but the rest of the work is yours.
Not all of us can stay permanently in a monastery or an ashram, yet we can still make meditation part of our life—allowing the peacefulness and calm that is already there to surface in our awareness. Meditation allows that calm to surface…just as if our were a cloud and the moon surfaced from beneath it.
Human awareness is a strange thing. We become quite influenced by our environment. If your environment is not in harmony with your Buddha nature, it can be tough to meditate. Yet, this sensitivity, to be affected by the world around us can also work to help you meditate!. Because, that’s how powerful the mind is…a mind that creates anxiety and suffering can also alleviate it.
For example:
If you meditate with someone who meditates a lot, it is so much easier to meditate yourself. If you dedicate a place where you always meditate, your mind will remember it and it will get easier to meditate when you go there.
If you already regularly follow someone’s meditation guidance than you probably have noticed how your mind starts to associate–your mind could be going at warp speed, but you see that person, or hear their voice…that helps you slip into a state between waking and sleeping, and you can see everything that’s going on inside your mind. When you master meditation, you too will affect the people around you in positive ways—people will associate you with peace—and immediately their brain will be able to think clearly or perform better when they see you.
This phenomena of how energy beings affect each other is called Entrainment. Masters at the art of Entrainment, understand that the mind of most people is a sponge. Even though you think you are in control of your mind, your mind is in control of you. A person with a higher energy affect the minds of others who have a lower energy vibration. When entrainment happens in a group, it can help you detach from your mind and instead observe it, more easily, than if you were alone.
Meditation is traditionally learnt in a group or with some guidance. When everybody sits together and tries to focus their attention on one thing, it makes it easier for each person to mimic the guidance of the facilitator. When everyone breathes in synch, something magical happens. But, some people may prefer to be alone to meditate.
