The power of mindful meditation & micro-meditation
By Madeleine Marentette
Practicing meditation is a prerequisite to self-discovery, peace of mind and optimum health. I made it a personal goal decades ago to integrate three types of meditation into a hectic lifestyle; silent meditation, contemplative or mindful meditation and invocation meditation. It is absolutely possible to practice meditation regardless of how busy your life is. If you have a demanding lifestyle like most people today, all the more reason you need to take up meditation. Luckily for me, I was highly motivated back in the early '80s due to a long-term health issue. Admittedly it took me a very long time, almost ten years, to realize that meditation is not something you squeeze in to your schedule like a conference call or a dentist appointment. Meditation is something you do while you are doing life, while you are on a conference call or lying in the dentist chair. Meditation calms the nervous system and herein lies the key to most peoples' suffering today; anxiety, panic attacks and depression.
You have to know where you are at in order to know were you are going. Meditation opens up the all-seeing-eye, the eye being the most potent transmitter and perceiver of energy.
The above statement was my single greatest revelation ~ it changed my path and my future. I realized that meditation was simply a focused mind ~ a 'Eureka!' moment. The practice of observing your thoughts, your self, and life while living life is meditation. Seeing life wholly from this perspective is the point, creates the outcome of a steady mind, accountability, a calmer heart, less adverse reactions to people and situations out of your control. More respect for your own self and you begin to realize the true value of self care. This reduces our stress level and literally saves us from continuous stress which harms the body and can lead to serious ill-health and even pre-mature death.
Silent Meditation, Contemplative Meditation, Invocation Meditation each represents a different type of brain function. Silence has a healing effect, contemplation is our creative and imaginative life, and invocation is what some might relate to as their prayer life. All of these play a significant role in the development of calm, insight and self-empowerment. My mission and hope is that you try it, like it and integrate it into your everyday, forever.
I believe that the greatest of all human adventures is represented in the stories of the legendary quest for the Holy Grail ~ the cup, to be discovered (uncovered) within the centre of our own Self; where there is restoration, vision, and spiritual insight. As I was reminded in one of my favourite books just today, "Where there is no vision the people perish."
Meditation brings calm and the ability to vision. Vision gives way to creativity, life, directs life, realizes life and heals life. We learn to not just survive, but thrive fully, whole-heartedly, bringing us wisdom, health and happiness.
