"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly."
-- Buddha
Websters dictionary defines the moment as, a present time or a a minute portion or point in time. Meditation is defined as,the act of meditating: to engage in mental exercise (as concentration on one's breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness.
Meditating for simply one moment doesn't tend to have much of a lasting effect on my daily mental, emotional and physcial state. It takes me at least 10-15 minutes of stillness before I become calm enough for my mental chatter subsides, the tendency of every itch and tickle in my physcial body to dissipate and my emotions to become even.
Struggling with life on life's terms is not easy for me. Wether it's organic or learned behavior is no longer a focus of my efforts. What is important to me today is breaking the cycle of escapism.
Meditation is a reality check. It changes my perspective from wishful thinking to this is real...life as it is! That's not to say that I have to love every minute of every day - trust me, I don't. What I do as a result of daily meditation is that I remember to breath sometimes during the "storm" and always after the storm has passed.
Sitting still for 15 mintues every day only totals 1:30 minutes. A week has 168 hours in it! My life is full, I make time to meditate because I need it. It reduces my stress and grounds me in the here and now. The moments I spend in meditation are often as not the only moments of peace I have in a whole day. I need those moments of meditation!
