In the moment

Filed under: Meditation

I was reading one of the other posts about meditation, and I started thinking about what meditation means to me, and why it is important. I think it’s important each day to take some time to clear your mind. It’s akin to the process of taking a sip of wine with your food to clear the palate. Not only do you appreciate the food more, but the taste, the sensation of the wine swirling in your mouth, stimulating your taste buds is a complementary experience in and of itself.
One of my favorite books is Jack Kornfield’s collection of wisdom called Buddha’s Little Instruction Book. That’s where I first came across the saying, “Wherever you go, there you are.” This was a very useful way for me to think about meditation. It helped me to realize that meditation was not about sitting in a room by yourself contemplating your navel. You could enter a meditative state anywhere where you could be along with your thoughts. I found myself entering a meditative state while running (the steady rhythm of my feet hitting the ground was a pleasant catalyst). I also find it relaxing and comforting to meditate while walking around the streets of New York, arguably one of the most chaotic places in which to meditate. As Kornfield suggests in his guide to meditation (which is an appendix to the book), “When you eat, just eat. When you walk, just walk.”