The idea of just sitting around seems very alien to us in the modern world. It seems boring- like a total waste of time. We’ve all got so much to do and not enough time to do it. So why sit around and waste such an already precious commodity that seems to be lacking in all of our lives? Why practice meditation at all?

Meditation is more than a technique- it is a way of life. It is a way for us to see the Universe and “hold audience” for the millions of bits of information that are passing through our minds in any given moment. We can all relate to that…noise everywhere…noise all of the time.

So how do we get rid of that noise? We don’t.

We cannot make the noise go away. It is a reflection of all of the processes of life as the nervous system is firing and communicating with the body all of the time. To stop the noise is to stop life. You’d have to go brain dead and stop your heart. Last I checked, that isn’t a leading wellness practice.

So what’s all this talk about meditation and how it helps calm us down and “stop the noise”? The answer lies in the photo you saw at the beginning of this post. Meditation is about acceptance of Reality. It is about learning to observe phenomena come and go without reacting to them. To meditate is to maintain equanimity in all affairs and to watch circumstances come and go without getting mentally and emotionally attached to them. We cannot stop our minds. (more…)