Meditate, Meditate, Meditate, Meditate

The word meditate came up four times yesterday.

1) I have been thinking about meditation for the past several months.  I have been closing my eyes in the morning and getting to a quiet place.  That usually results in me falling asleep.  I have also been driving with the sound off in my car for years.  I have been carving out quiet and alone time for myself as well.  Going to the spa.  Going to the gym.  Not talking to my boyfriend when I come home.  But I haven't quite made it to meditation.  I've taken out two books from the library: How to Practice by the Dalai Lama and Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity by David Lynch.  I have had the Dalai Lama book for 3 months.  I've picked it up, read it, been confused by it.  I've checked it out three times in a row.  Then I checked out the David Lynch book.  I thought that was going to be a book that would tell me how to meditate.  It was not.  It was a great book that extolled the benefits of meditation.  But it had nothing in terms of instruction.  It was just, "Meditation is great.  You should do it.  This one time, when we were shooting Dune…."  But I read it three times because it was so easy to read and it did feel comforting and it was related to how mediation affected his work.  It was more of a pep talk in preparation to mediate.  And for that, it was good.

2) My best friend Alanna responded to an email in which I requested some help working out some characters for a new pilot I'm writing.  "I'll meditate on it."  I thought that was an interesting choice of words, given my preoccupation with mediating.

3) My friend Jenn and I met up yesterday to talk about a play that she wrote and wanted my feedback on.  Somehow we got on the topic of meditation and she mentioned to me a bunch of meditation apps that she uses and sent me some resources.

4) My friend Susan and I were talking yesterday about writing and family and other issues going on when she mentioned that she had started meditating again.

So it's in the air.  I literally had it come in from four separate sources yesterday.  Meditating is an important thing for me to do.  I need to calm myself and center my mind.  I have been thinking about it forever and it seems like the Universe is telling me it's time to get to it.

I need to find a quiet space.  And maybe try out those meditation apps tonight.

I am grateful for the acknowledgement that my journey has been a good one.
I am grateful that I have friends who are talking about meditating.
I am grateful for my ability to listen to the Universe when it's speaking.
I am grateful for my upcoming trip to Portland.
I am grateful that I can see how everything that has happened in my life has lead me here.
I am grateful that I have come a long way.
I am grateful that I can finally see how long that way has been and that I can appreciate it.

Working Towards Quiet

My friend Dave and I had coffee last night.  In addition to all of the wonderful things he said about my spiritual growth, he mentioned that I needed to start meditating.

This is not the first time I have heard this.

Susan mentioned months ago that I need to start meditating.

So I decided to try something.  I have combined my running and mediation together.  As you can read from the following:

http://creativityinrealtime.blogspot.com/2013/09/running-meditation.html

http://creativityinrealtime.blogspot.com/2013/09/affirmations-parts-two-and-three.html

There's more.  That's just a sampling.  

I have a hard time sitting still and meditating, so I decided that I could run and have a mantra while running.  That seemed cool.  And I still do it and I love it.  And I have already started driving without the radio.  Quiet is something I am more and more comfortable with.  I go to the Korean spa when I want stillness.  Stillness with a side of naked guys and jacuzzi bubbles.  I'm getting there, right?

But Dave challenged me to really try and sit still.  Ugh!  Zen Meditation, he said.

Okay, but how do I do that?  Then I remembered that a professor in college had us show up and do a mediation three days a week as a part of our course work.  That was his requirement.  

So you know how to do it, Dave said.  I guess I do.  He suggested reading "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life" by the Dalai Lama.

Okay, I just checked out the book from the library.  Maybe I'll go to the Korean spa later and sit down and read it.

I have to start somewhere.

I am grateful for a guide to mediation.

I am grateful that I am letting go of my fear around mediation.