NOW

October 10, 2024

Here we are again, dear Reader and I am so happy to have you back or here for the first time! Two weeks ago I wrote about my journey back and forth, for the last ten years, by car, between Boston, MA and southern Oregon. I've been sharing a lot of the details about that -- how I made it happen, what I needed to do to get started, who I visit along the way, and so on. As I got near the end of my "essay", I realized I was exploring how much I desired to make these trips happen as well as some other things in my life and what it took to launch them. I finished by encouraging everyone to start dreaming, imagining, exploring, and questioning, "What do I really want?".

After sending what I'd written off to my assistant, I continued to think about it and I could feel the next installment forming in my mind. I realized that was just the introduction to a "series" about fulfilling our dreams. In fact, it would be inconsiderate of me to leave you hanging. It's one thing to explore your desires, but then what ...?! So, what's next?

We can let our minds start whirling and twirling as we "think" about all our wishes. That's all well and good until we become aware that our minds are going at breakneck speed and it's giving us a headache. Even worse, it starts to feel nearly impossible to shut it down. Trust me, I've been there, done that. Fortunately, I was introduced to meditation over 40 years ago. I didn't dive in with both feet for awhile. In fact, I tried to "dabble" -- a little breathing exercise here, a mindfulness experiment there. They had some merit, but not what I really needed. You see, meditation is "not what you think", on many levels. It's not about stopping your thoughts, at least not in the beginning. It's about slowing things down and learning to observe your busy mind while you develop the practice of "dropping down" underneath the chatter. Imagine diving into a stormy ocean and allowing yourself to go down into the calm depths, under the churning surface. The waves are still rolling and crashing above. If you look up you can see them while you are calmly floating along many feet below with your oxygen tank on.

When we move beyond the outer turbulence, we start to find clarity within. Over time, even when we aren't actually meditating, we can begin to access a calmer awareness of what we "know" and what we want. We learn to discern between our Soul's wise voice and the noisy babbling of a fearful Ego.

Maybe you took me up on my suggestion to start considering what you "want", maybe you didn't. I have another proposal:

If you know about meditation and you haven't been doing it on a regular basis, make a decision to schedule it in every day.
If you have never meditated, look into it. Simply sitting every morning for 5 minutes is a great start. Watch your breathing go in and out. Or, count backwards from 100. When you go off track (and you will), bring yourself back and continue from where you left off.

This will help you really get in touch with what's important to you and in what direction you'd like to go.

I intend to post this series every other week. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. Also, if you'd like more guidance with meditation and mindfulness, that's one of my specialties, so contact me.

Enjoy some peaceful photos from my rural life at the moment. The cows definitely gave off a meditative vibe.