“Suppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day that would reduce your anxiety and increase your contentment.  Would you take it?  Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust.  Suppose, finally that the pill is all-natural and costs nothing.  Now, would you take it?  The pill exists.  It’s called meditation.”

                                                                                      Jonathan Haidt – The Happiness Hypothesis

My forty-something son told me yesterday that his daily meditation practice has changed his life.  And when he stops doing it for whatever reasons (busyness and time constraints mostly) he notices that he slips back into old habits and mind frames.

I think I replied with something like, “Ditto!”

He rhymed off a list of the changes he experienced after ‘discovering’ meditation: a surge in creativity, focus, confidence, and best of all in my opinion, belief in the ability to realize his dream. 

That tells me that meditation is the channel that leads us to realize our purpose here on Earth in this lifetime.  No small thing.

Originally a practice relegated to monks, mystics and the enlightened few, the practice of meditating has seen a surge in the last decade.  Something is happening – a ripple effect.  It goes something like this:

I decide to get serious about a daily practice and I begin.  It takes diligence, patience, and persistence. But mostly I need a good, solid reason for doing it.

I start small with as little as a minute a day.  Then it grows to twice daily, morning and evening.  In time the duration expands and so do I.

My presence changes.  My relationships become more loving and compassionate. I connect with others on more of a soul level.  I begin to experience deep gratitude. I walk into a classroom of children and feel intense love and understanding.  I have frequent, unexpected attacks of smiling.  I love life.

Now the ripples start to appear.  Few can resist the flow of love and appreciation.  It’s like a river that sweeps up unsuspecting flotsam and jetsam in its path. 

Then comes the miracle.  Others soften and feel something deep within awakening.  They open to new possibilities.  The idea of meditation does not seem so radical or impossible. 

And so on, and so on, until the world begins to change, until we reach that tipping point of which Malcolm Gladwell writes, and we truly inherit heaven on Earth.

Sound impossible? It is not.  It’s all based on Gandhi’s famous directive to ‘be the change you wish to see in the world’.  It’s that simple.

Meditation has been attributed benefits beyond our wildest dreams: lowers your blood pressure and heart rate, increases your immunity, decreases inflammation, slows aging, reduces headaches, improves your memory, heightens your intuition, improves your digestion, your social life, and even your sex life! (now that I have your attention) And much more.

So why is it that more of us don’t participate in this magic?  What I hear is: I have tried but just can’t do it.  My mind won’t quit.  It’s too hard.  I’m too distracted. I don’t have time.  I’ll do it when (fill in the blank).  

If this is you, beloved, resist no longer.  Few of us found it easy to begin – to settle our monkey minds and sit in silence.  I certainly did not.  But I desperately wanted to do this. 

I think it was my soul trying to get my attention. I knew that there was more to this life than my little world.  More than movies and television and facebook and the news and the markets and the daily grind. There was a big picture that I was missing. It had something to do with my life’s purpose and I didn’t want to blow it.

And if this is you, here are some tips: Be clear about why you wish to meditate.  Sit wherever and however you feel comfortable, but as Jon Kabat-Zinn says, “Sit with dignity”. 

Start small – one or two minutes – and increase.  Follow your breath or use a word or phrase.  I like to use ‘quiet’.  I spell it out: Q – U- I – E – T in my mind as I exhale. That’s my anchor. 

When your mind starts to wander, don’t judge yourself. Gently bring it back.  Imagine your thoughts like paper boats sailing past.  Get out of your mind and into your body.  Feel your tush on the cushion, your chest rising and falling with each breath, your hands relaxed on your lap.

I have a dedicated spot by a window where I sit, with a candle, a few smooth stones, and a little Buddha figure.  When I settle there I feel my body loosen. It knows. 

And here’s the thing . . . it’s not what happens on my cushion; it’s what happens and who I am the rest of my day. 

Here is where I find my own truth, clarity and insight. Here is where I become the best version of myself and at the same time, pave the way for a more peaceful planet.

“If every 8-year old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world in one generation.”        

                                                                                                       --- His Holiness, The Dalai Lama