I love this week's quote because it really does put meditation into proper perspective. Unlike so many practices and techniques that supposedly lead to the practitioners 'personal growth' and their seemingly getting something out of their practice, meditation, properly understood, reverses this distorted perception, which only reinforces the idea that we are lacking or missing something and need to become bigger, stronger and better to compensate for this imagined lack.
But this belief only fosters our desire for more, which according to the Buddha is the root of all suffering and certainly seems to explain much of the suffering that is so prevalent in Westernised societies today. Just think of how often you feel disappointed or even devastated when you want something and that desire is frustrated or completely unfulfilled and you'll see the truth of this for yourself.
By helping our minds to let go of their attachment to material things and outcomes we think will make us happy, meditation helps us realise that our desire for more - more money and the things it can buy, more relationships, more pleasurable experiences and anything else that we think we need more of in this world - is one of our core delusions and the reason for so much of our suffering (not to mention the foundation of our economic system!)
Regular meditation helps us systematically undo all our false beliefs that tell us we need more, but which really support our belief that we are not good enough because we don't have enough. It helps us to let go of our ego, which has to believe we are lacking something to maintain its apparently separate existence, and accept the wholeness that we already have and are.
"But how do I actually do that?" you may well be asking yourself. "The theory is great, but how do I meditate in a way that will help me undo my desire for all the stuff that I think I need and accept that I am already perfect, whole and complete?"
To help you do this, I'd like to give you a powerful Ten-step Letting Go Process I've developed that is a synthesis of all the teachings in A Course in Miracles, which I've been studying for over 13 years and is my spiritual path.
This Process will help you to let go of any negative thought or emotion no matter what it is or how challenging the situation triggering it appears to be (if not immediately, then ultimately if you persevere with it). It's helped me to get through some very challenging times in my life and I still use it as part of a
Letting Go Meditation Process I've created and which I do myself every other morning to connect me to my true Self, which is Love.
I'll be guiding people though this Ten-Step Letting Go Process as part of a ten-minute meditation during the FREE Art of Letting Go Webinar (which is an online presentation, in case you're wondering) that I'm running on Wednesday the 24th of July from 8 to about 9.30 p.m. SA time.
During the Webinar, I'll also be talking about
3 Stress-busting Secrets and
The Art of Letting Go Course, a
six-week online transformation process based on the teachings in
A Course in Miracles (ACIM) that I'll be running in September and October this year.
Doing the Course will help you to master the thought system behind the
Ten-Step Letting Go Process and help you stick to a daily routine that includes a
Guided Meditation incorporating the Ten-Step Process, discussion & live meditation sessions and study of
ACIM, to name just a few of the transformational practices you'll be doing during the Course.
I hope to connect with you during the Webinar. Have a Flowing month in the meantime and to help you do that, remember that anything negative that seems to happen to you is really Just Another Opportunity to Breathe, Let Go and Find Your Flow...
Yours in Flow
Jono
