Meditation – Learn to Meditate Constantly

There is a huge misconception amongst Americans concerning meditation. It is basic and paramount. Most Americans perceive meditation as something that you engage in periodically – say once a day. The truth is that meditation is a constant activity; it is something that you never stop doing.

While it is certainly beneficial to find a quiet spot during a quiet time each day to sit down and devote your attention to your breathing, a mantra or some other type of meditative technique – you have to learn to do it at all times. In order for this to happen, you have to understand what meditation truly is.

In a nutshell, meditation is the control of your breathing, thoughts, speech and actions simultaneously at every given moment of your life. You do not meditate for 15 minutes and then cease to meditate. You do not engage in controlled, appropriate thinking for a small period of time and then allow your thoughts to run rampant again. While that is better than nothing, it is not good enough.

You have to learn to “check yourself”. Of course, you can’t do it all in one day. Meditation is a lifelong process. You start out slowly. Ask yourself: Am I behaving in the manner that I wish to? Am I representing myself appropriately? Do I display the actions, speech and thoughts that I would wish upon myself? Am I an example for my fellow human beings to follow?

One of the underlying philosophical foundations of wisdom is to realize that the answer to all of those questions is always: No. We will not be perfect. We will continue to make mistakes. We will continue to find ourselves in states that lack awareness. We will continue to let ourselves down time and time again. Meditation only combats these truths. Meditation is a vehicle that we can utilize in order to minimize our failures.

When we meditate, we give our attention primarily to our breath. We give our attention further to our thoughts, words and actions. The goal of meditation is to progressively check ourselves more and more throughout every given day. The goal of meditation is to become aware of how we are and what we’re doing at every given moment in time.

Go ahead, sit down and meditate for 15 minutes or so. There’s nothing wrong with it. When you rise from your meditation session, try to let it live on. Try to never let it end! Attempt to develop the habit of checking yourself in a nonstop fashion. As the days pass, you’ll find that your skills increase. Your mind will naturally want to incorporate these positive changes.

Embrace the power of constant meditation!

Meditation – Learn to Meditate Constantly by M Alan Roberts