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Monday, June 6, 2011

Don't Walk - Meditate

So the title is slightly conflicted, as I was both walking and meditating.  Let's correct that - trying to meditate - mostly thinking except for the short blips of time when I was able to slow it all down and just observe.  I learned one thing and that's meditation isn't easy. 

For now, the only one of those two entities, meditation and walking,  I'm any good at is walking.  Meditating, well that will take some practice.  Probably, all things considered, a lot of practice.  But in the brief time I did manage to still my mind I noticed things.  Noticed them like I don't normally notice as I took things in and my brain refrained from continual commentary.  It was like I was seeing everything at a different angle.  Seeing and being without judging and putting my own interpretation on things. 

Was it my imagination or did the sky have a deeper hue?  Wait, there goes thinking again.  Yes, this meditation thing isn't easy.  But for the blips of time I can shut off the running commentary, everything appears clearer, and somehow different.   It's like my feet know exactly where they're going without the sometimes exhausting and never-ending pitter patter of thoughts winding through my brain like an unwanted news reel.  You don't realize how busy a mind is until you ask it to turn off - just for a minute and discover that the off button is so used to being turned in the on position that your brain has no idea how to turn off and listen to something else.

I'm slowly discovering that meditation isn't just relaxing, it just might give a different perspective on how I view the world.  As my brain analyzes the world around me, I consider whether I am  experiencing reality as opposed to my interpretation of reality?   I don't know.  What I do know is that when I still my mind everything appears different, richer in a way without the continual labels and analysis that my thoughts apply to everything like a deluge of sticky notes flooding my environment.  Picture the trees, shrubs, mailman - all decorated in the sticky notes of our thoughts.  Meditation sweeps the sticky notes aside, if only briefly. 

Good, bad or just different? 

It defintely puts a different perspective on the world and for anyone that's a good thing.  For a writer, that's fantastic.  And bonus, I heard it's relaxing.  So with that in mind, I'm off for a walk and see if I can stretch my meditation time past the one minute marker. 

Any new views in your world?

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com

2 comments:

Marcia Colette said...

Wow. I admire anyone who can meditate, let alone meditate and walk at the same time. I've tried meditating and for some reason my mind never wants to shut off. In fact, it's like meditating gives it permission to think about things I haven't thought about in a long time. Then that next thing I know, I've forgotten something and I'm back to my frenzied state again. *sigh* At this rate, it'll take a hammer to the head to get me to not think about things.

Ryshia Kennie said...

Marcia - I admire anyone who can meditate too considering my meditation hasn't passed the minute or two mark.
And maybe there's an upside to all your frenzied thoughts and that's all those fantastic stories you keep producing.