Meditation Part 6

"True life happens when little changes occur."

-Leo Tolstoy

"When you are grateful, fear dissapears and abundance appears."

-Tony Robbins

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on meditation, so I figured I would add another- a practice I have been doing quite recently.

Throughout my life I have had a lot of jobs; from dish washer to janitor, to today being a farmer for a little while between the kibbutz I was staying on, and now while WWOOFing.

This is a practice you can do pretty much while doing anything, but when doing something particularly repetitious, it will help the most.

Let's say I am washing dish after dish- with each dish I wash I keep a thought of gratitude in mind. For me it is often, 'I am thankful for this', but for someone religious, perhaps, 'Thank you God', is another way to look at it.

When I plant a seed, or the plant once it is grow, I think, 'I am grateful this will grow', and when I pull a weed, I fervantly think, 'May this help what I am doing'.

Perhaps at first you do not actually believe the very thought you are thinking. But as you think it more and more, the feeling of gratitude you are cultivating will grow. More importantly, you can attune this process to pretty much any mode of thought and attitude you deign. Perhaps it is confidance you would like to build, then think as you work, 'I am confidant this will work' or, 'With every task I do, I become better'.

What a lot of people do not keep in mind is that every thought we have matters- literally every single one. Any thought is a electrochemical passed from not only one neuron to another, but throughout the mind.

As you think something, your brain is re-wiring itself to make these thoughts not only able to be held for longer, but easier to make.

You can do similar exercises to also change how you think. Perhaps like me you had some pretty serious anger issues growing up. Whenever I felt myself starting to become angry over nothing, that rage that would cause me to hit a wall or item, or whatever was around me, I would stop and take note of that emotion. I would think even as a young teenager, 'This isn't me. This isn't who I want to be', and then would seek why I was acting this way- what caused me, what was the impetus. Was there even any at all?

In doing so it allowed me to become conscious of when that situation arose. And eventually whenever it happened I would attempt to think of something positive, and if that did not work, I would do something I know would calm me down- such as martial arts, or writing or reading.

Years later when I suffered from depression, this technique also helped. I don't get rage fits anymore, and I haven't suffered from depression in three years. I am grateful for that, but it took work. You have to start small, like placing the first brick for building any structure. Little by little, you will see what you do come to fruition.

This is the essence of meditation- changing who we are through how our minds work. We are reprogramming ourselves, and that is the wonderful thing about the mind- the more you contemplate and work mentally on something, the more efficient your brain becomes by forming neural connections to make that task easier.

"The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world, and the world at large."

-Confuscious