Living in the hectic fast paced twenty first century can be both a wonderful and challenging experience. Constantly bombarded with the myriad of things we have to do, places we need to be, feeling overburdened with responsibilities, cares and stresses it’s easy to feel lost and disconnected from others, our self and our life purpose.
Each day closely resembles the one before as we hurry to get to the life we imagine is waiting for us, a life where we hope to experience joy, peace, contentment and fulfilment. It seems there is constantly stuff to sort out, just a few more hurdles to tackle as the life we seek is continuously postponed for yet another day, year or decade. But we’ll get there one day, we hope, we think, we pray!
Deluding ourselves that it’s somewhere out there waiting to be claimed until we discover it’s a place already residing within us. We’ve just forgotten how to get there.
It’s the space we frequently lived in when we were young children, able to find absolute joy in the moment as we whiled away time playing with a toilet paper roll, sat in the cradle of an old tree, chased soap bubbles floating through the air, dwelled in the lands of our luscious imaginations, immersed ourselves in hours of play and laughter with friends.
Enthusiasm, exuberance and vitality that once came so naturally fades into the backdrop for most of us as we deal with what we think really matters. What is it that really matters? While many of the items on our never ending to do list may very well be important we too often neglect the most important thing of all – to connect with ourselves, the source of our being.
It is the sacred space within each of us, the font of our being, our truth, individuality, creativity, vitality, joy. It never left us, we never lost it, we simply forget to connect with it as we are so terribly busy doing all the things we need to do, to get to where we think we need to be, yet never quite making it there.
The source of who we are resides within us beyond all the noise and distractions, it’s always there. Sometimes we hear it whisper to us or we sense it in unexpected moments when the world falls away. But we don’t have to wait for those moments to spontaneously occur, we can access the source of our being by going beyond our worldly responsibilities.
The ancient practice of meditation is a gateway to discovering what resides within us.
Meditation is a vast topic which is best understood by practice rather than by the written word. The meditative journey is a personal experience and no two will follow the same path.
It is easy to become frustrated when first learning to mediate as we tend to expect immediate results. Meditation takes time. Be patient, as it is a practice which can add deeper and richer dimensions to your life. A beautiful teacher once said to me, “it is an experiment and an experience”.
There is no right or wrong way, just have the courage to allow things to unfold. As with any practice, the more you put into it the more you’ll get out of it, this is certainly the case with meditation.
The Greek philosophers had written above their temples “Man, know thyself, and thou shalt know God and the Universe”. The Bible makes a similar reference “The Kingdom of God is within you”. Both these statements elude to the importance of self-knowledge and point to the worlds within us to be discovered.
Consider also that the world education comes from the Latin word “Educare” which means to draw out. What is it within us that we are to draw out? Our modern world dictates to us who we should be, how we should look, think, act, be. Most of us fall short of meeting these external expectations as a result people often feel disconnected, inadequate and lonely, struggling to keep up with the pretence of getting by.
Meditation is like medication for our soul, providing the gateway to access powerful forces inherent to our being awaiting to be explored and expressed.
There are so many benefits meditation offers and an array of books and sites which discuss those benefits in length outlining the scientific findings of how this practice impacts our physical, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Having been practiced for thousands of years it is perhaps more necessary now given the chaotic nature of the world we live in, which in turn is reflected in the chaos stirred within us.
Mental illness, depression, anxiety, physical illnesses are rampant within our culture. With the advancement of technology and the ever increasing demands and expectations we place on ourselves we are a culture who has forgotten to tap into the sacred source of wellness, intelligence and creativity that dwells within us.
Rosemary Sherro “The Key For Me”
“The Key for Me” will motivate and empower by supporting you to find the keys to set in motional goals and aspirations to help you make a better life for yourself.