As soon as I laid down in my bed, I knew there was no way sleep was coming anytime soon.
So, I got up, got this book
and randomly opened it.
The page I opened it to was the 'lake' meditation. He described how even when the lake surface is disturbed and filled with choppy waves, beneath the surface remain calm waters -nestled in the arms of the earth.
I put down the book at set to imagining that deep stillness. I didn't fight the choppy waves...Instead, I just let them wash over and above me....and I stayed in the space which was calm. I imagined my body as the lake...settling into the earth's nooks and crannies.
Within moments, I felt a peacefulness. Those mental choppy waves gradually lessened. I saw sunlight glinting all over the gentle ripples on the surface.....like bursts of Gratitude, blessing the water. I felt myself nestled in the arms of the earth. Soon, the surface of the lake was mirror-still....reflecting only beauty.
I slept.
My first attempts at this special kind of stillness came about when I was reading A NEW EARTH. Later that same year is when I fell and all but pulverized my wrist...including a compound fracture. I was in enormous pain as my husband drove me to the hospital. While I was sitting in the car, waiting for him to get a wheelchair for me, it occurred to me that it might be a good time to do some meditating! Duh!
Within seconds, my pain level went from...let's just say a '9' to about a '4.'
Not bad.
My "reminder cards" say "When you change your mind, you can change your world."
That is truth.
Either our minds control us or we control our minds.
If we could always remember that...what a difference it would make, wouldn't it?
In A NEW EARTH, Eckhart Tolle said something to this effect.....
It is not the situation which causes our unhappiness. It's our thoughts about it...which causes our unhappiness.
I believe that.
I am no expert on meditation. I don't even do it regularly. But I am so grateful that I am, at least, aware of its' benefits. And this book...well, I can't imagine one which would be any more helpful in learning to practice meditation.
I am Grateful for the reminder I got last night.
