Meditation for Thursday 11th May 2023

Whatever method we chose as our point of concentration for meditation it is always a practice of awareness, for example awareness to the breath. Nourishing that awareness is fundamental to our practice just as nourishing awareness in other aspects of our lives assists us when we formally meditate but more broadly in living a life of awareness, a mindful life, a meditative life.

It is the practice in many cultures to nourish awareness of the food that we eat. E.g.

Blessed be the Earth for providing us this food,

The sun for helping it to grow,

The wind and birds for carrying its seed,

The rain for the water’s loving flow.

Blessings on our meal.

This is nourishing awareness. This is an act of mindfulness. We become present to the food before us and conscious of the earth processes that give us our sustenance. 

A child in a refugee camp on the border of Thailand and Cambodia holds up his bowl of rice and says…  “Today on the table, there are many delicious foods. I am grateful to be here with my family enjoying these wonderful dishes. They are a blessing.”  

To witness this awareness, this thankfulness from people who have nothing is humbling. Eventually as we progress in meditation and in the broader cultivation or nourishment of awareness we will appreciate that our meditation can help us to see how to assist those who need our help so much.

Vital to the nourishment of awareness is the critical practice mindfulness, a praxis that helps us to acquire the capacity to look, to see, and to understand. As we have often said,

“we meditate not just for ourselves, but we also meditate for the benefit of others.”  

We formally meditate for a period of time each day. This is complimented by mindfulness so that we nourish awareness of what is going on inside us and around us.

Meditation

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