Rest and Relaxation - Meditation Have you figured out how to plan your workday to get the most benefit from it for your business and family? Have you factored in playtime and service to your community? Are you having a little trouble, though, with the concept of rest and renewal for yourself? Do you wish that there was something you could do for yourself which would take about twenty minutes, can be done anywhere you are, requires virtually no cost or physical effort and actually ENERGIZES you instead of drawing energy?Well, not only IS there such a thing - it is something that has been tried and found true and effective by untold millions of people from before recorded history.
Yes, I'm talking about meditation - and it is NOT just for Buddhist monks anymore! Did I say twenty minutes? That is the amount of time that appears to be of the most benefit for the average person who is not in a monastery.
The famous spiritual leader Deepak Chopra himself recommends this amount of time as being a good one for most people.
But, of course, you can spend as much or as little time as you want at this soul renewing, physically relaxing and energizing activity.
Take a little time to find out what works best for you.
Let me begin by saying that I am an advocate of the plain old kitchen timer for meditating.
If you tell people what you are doing, you will probably run into someone who thinks this is too crass or jarring.
Some people like to say that they meditate without paying attention to time - indicating that a Higher Power, or Inner Voice, tells them when to start and stop.
My experience is that these are people who do more talking about meditating than actual meditating.
In monasteries, even those in which monks meditate for hours at a time, it is done with beginning and ending times.
Granted, a pleasant bell or chime is a nicer sound than a mechanical timer, but most of us don't have anyone willing to act as our chimer.
Some people have found that putting the timer in the next room where they can hear it but it is not so loud makes it more pleasant.
I have even heard of someone going so far as to record the sound of a bell followed by twenty minutes of recorded silence and then the sound of another bell.
Not a bad idea! The point is that to get the benefits of meditation it needs - like anything else - to be done regularly and not just when the "spirit" moves.
Think of it as training the mind and spirit, just like building up muscle.
Twenty minutes a day lifting weights will give you stronger biceps - picking up the weights only when you feel like it just won't! There are many forms of meditation.
The common idea in almost all of them is to put one thing into the mind and focus on THAT as a way of blocking out other things.
It is good to find a quiet place for meditation, but in today's world it is often impossible to find complete silence.
You will find that after practicing for a while you can come to an inner core of concentration in which the sounds around you become peripheral.
You can hear them, as it were, at a distance - while your mind dwells on the focus of your meditation.
The common Zen practice of counting breaths is a good way to start for many people.
Zen practitioners will count "One" on the in breath, "Two" on the out breath, up to the count of ten and then start over.
If you prefer you can come up with a "mantra" for yourself - a phrase to repeat over and over as you meditate.
Anything that feels safe and comfortable for you - the actual meaning doesn't matter as much as the focus.
If you are a visual person you may want to picture a peaceful scene.
A more "audio" person may want to try the following: Identify for yourself an area of silence that is inside your head - some people locate it right around their ears.
When you can "hear" that silence, actively listen to it for as long as you can and keep coming back to it when your thoughts run away with you.
After practicing this for a while you will find that other sounds around you seem to be "outside" of this interior silence.
A word about the business of "thoughts running away.
"Don't become discouraged when extraneous thoughts intrude on your concentration.
That is natural.
Just keep returning to your focus.
After a while it will become more and more natural to return sooner and the thoughts will not last as long.
Some practitioners say that having the thoughts is not a problem - just try not to "run after them" or elaborate on them.
Just keep gently returning to the meditation, as if you were training a puppy by putting him back on the paper over and over again.
Above all, be gentle with yourself.
It is counter-productive to make meditating another hurdle for yourself.
Chances are you have set up enough of those as it is.
Some people feel the benefits of regular meditation immediately in the form of a calmness and renewed energy.
Other benefits may take longer and may not be so obviously related to your new activity.
People who have meditated for years reflect that they are more creative, more centered and less anxious and irritable than they were before - even though on the outside their lives have become more hectic.
On reflection they realize that the one thing they have done differently is that they gave themselves the gift of regular meditation and it has made all the difference.
The home business entrepreneur needs to keep that well of creative energy flowing.
Meditation may be the way for you, as it has been for so many others.