Meditation for Thursday 8th February 2024
There is a Zen saying;
when you are sitting just sit;
when you are standing just stand;
when you are walking just walk.
Total concentration, being in the now, dwelling in the present moment, this is the important aspect of meditation and mindfulness practices.
When mindfully we are enjoying chocolate we savour the taste and we don’t even feel guilty. To feel guilty would be to let our ego get in the way. Tasting food, tasting and savouring is a mindful act.
Author, therapist and meditation teacher Simon Cole has written in his book “Stillness in Mind” Changemaker Books, 2013…..
“Most people eat too fast to really taste what they are eating. Very few people take the time to savour. Try this. Next time you are eating a meal. Notice how long you are actually registering the taste of the food. When you find you are thinking about something, notice how that means that you are not conscious of what you are eating, but simply of the act of eating, which has become a background activity, like driving a car while you are talking to your passenger. If you need help to slow down your eating, try setting down your eating utensils as soon as you have put food in your mouth and do not pick them up again until you have swallowed the previous mouthful.”
Mindfulness practices such as these will greatly assist you with concentration meditation.
Our first step in meditation and mindfulness is not to get distracted and the next step is not to anticipate. We anticipate all the time but when we risk not anticipating it is freeing.
Meditation
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