A good garden may have some weeds. - Thomas Fuller
As a young girl recess was my favorite time of the school day - imagine that! Sitting in class after lunch waiting anxiously, my eyes would dart from the clock to the window and beyond. The recess bell would ring and like a racehorse behind the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby, I'd chomp at the bit trying to contain myself (you know, walk and not run down the hall in order to get to the playground). Once outside and free to run - I would race to be the first (and often only) child to the dandelion patch. Why would I do that? Because of my love of the beautiful yellow dandelion and my belief that if I picked the fuzzy ones and made a wish before blowing the "snow" into the air that the wish would come true. As I matured in age and awareness I learned, much to my dismay, the dandelion was just a weed!
So what do weeds have to do with meditation? This morning while meditating a gentle nudge from the universe reminded me of two things - one, my Epiphany from earlier this week about my life being the destination and I should enjoy the journey, and two, part of this journey called life is about the imperfections. The imperfections are a part of our humanness and that's what we are here on this earth to deal with.
Before discovering meditation most of my spare time was spent in suffering! Life was too messy, life was too hard, why couldn't I just be a spiritual being and not have to deal with sorrow, despair, anger, intolerance and darkness? Because I'm human. The only perfection is our creator - whether we call it God, Higher Power, Brahman, Gaia or Universal Intelligence...IT is the only perfection.
Just as a garden needs the often unappreciated dandelion weed to break up the hard earth and bees need the dandelion nectar for pollination - we need our imperfections (character defects in particular) to remind us of our humanness and to give us something to work on! In realizing that my life is the destination I have gained some momentum with my gratitude. With awareness that the weeds/character defectiveness are necessary - character development comes to the forefront of my minds eye. In moments of anger - I can choose to work on patience, when sorrow knocks I can find joy, in moments of despair I can find hope and for darkness I can strive for the light! With all of that to do...who has time for self-pity?!
Today's meditation:
approximate time - 31 minutes.
1. A comfortable and safe place. (I chose my meditation room that also serves as my office)
2. Sitting in lotus pose, my eyes closed and hands in gian mudra.
3. Centering prayer - it can be said silently or out loud depending on your environment (I silently recited the St. Francis prayer, "Make me a channel")
4. Begin to follow your breath in and out of your nostrils, breathing naturally (your breathe will find its own rhythm)
5. Focus on the third eye point (centered about 1 inch above the bridge of your nose)
6. Bring your focus back to your breath, then the third eye when your mind wanders.
7. Let the images (whether visual or audio) flood your minds eye.
8. Remember, after meditation wait for a few minutes before standing up!
9. Make notes of the parts of the meditation that nudged you or resonated with you.
