Meditation Articles Series

In a group meeting I attended a woman said about her friend, half jokingly yet with a tinge of sarcasm, “She seems to spend her whole day meditating.” The other woman remaining very centred replied, “Oh! If only that were true.” I later reflected on that and thought I would share these insights with you. I asked myself, “What would that be like to spend each and every day of my life meditating?” I don’t mean sitting cross-legged in the solitary confinement of a sound proof room. I mean going about your daily life focused and fully engaged in whatever you are doing. When that happens to me at times I notice, before I start thinking again! “Wow! My mind is really quiet.” For example when you eat your food how often are you focused on the food, the colours of it, the textures, the aromas, and the taste of it when you are chewing each mouthful thirty two times (just kidding you here)? So often we hurry through a meal, hardly noticing what we are eating and not even remembering if we enjoyed it. Or what about the distractions that take us even further away from eating like watching the TV at the same time or working at the same time? Another example, how often do people really listen to you when you are talking with them? It’s easy to tell when someone is off somewhere else and nowhere present with you. And when you’re talking to someone on the phone and you can tell that they’re watching television or preparing their dinner at the same time. Giving your full attention to someone as they speak requires a focused and still mind and one that is able to be fully engaged in listening. All of these activities have all the components of meditation, and if you were to break down all your daily activities you would find that anything you are engaged in can become a meditation practice.