Why? - Steven Thirkle

Meditation is an observation of your thoughts. This observation, coupled with acceptance can allow us to realise a deep inner peace within ourself.

Why Meditate?

The thoughts in our minds can often be overwhelming. They are offensive, and at times they can hurt us. They make us feel small and this “brain talk” can damage us. We often shy away from these thoughts and as they continue to assail us, we refuse to think them through to find a solution and so they always persist as a problem. By deflecting these thoughts, and by becoming violent towards them, we demonstrate and manifest exactly what we are attempting to be free from; negativity. Meditation allows us to think through our thoughts, and bring our attention back to the present, back to the moment. Where it is most needed, to live a full life.

Observe your thoughts

Peace

The benefits of meditation are many. As such, meditation has been practiced for thousands of years, in many traditions around the world. The benefits were known and realised long before the development of technology to assist us in knowing them. It would require many words to describe the exact benefits that meditation permits, and it is certain that there are many sources that can be informative of these. Thoughts that persist can bring distress. This distress can manifest unless a response is given. The healing process involves a process of acceptance. By meditating we open ourselves up to these thoughts and we consciously respond.

Any thought has the potential to harm us, rather than rejecting them, they should be allowed to enter the mind and then to be accepted, for what it is. This cycle of observation and acceptance occurs during meditation. We practice, and when the mind wanders we accept the thought, and then gently bring our attention back to the practice.

Meditation focuses the attention to grant conscious observation of thoughts to allow for appropriate response.

Present Moment?

Everything happens in the now. You breathe, you feel, you see, you talk, you do, everything happens right now. The past has gone, it no longer exists and the future has not happened yet, it doesn’t exist. Existence is defined as: “Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with physical or mental reality.” It is impossible to interact with the past, just as it is impossible to interact with the future. Our bodies are only capable of interacting with the present, with what we have in front of us. So why do we attempt to interact with the past, with the future? Often, our mind is in control and does as it pleases which is to interact with that which does not exist. Meditation grants you powers to control the mind and to come back to the now, back to interacting with the present.