With the hectic pace and demands of modern life, many people feel
stressed and over-worked. It often feels like there is just not enough
time in the day to get everything done. Our stress and tiredness make us
unhappy, impatient and frustrated. It can even affect our health. We
are often so busy we feel there is no time to stop and meditate! But
meditation actually gives you more time by making your mind calmer and
more focused. A simple ten or fifteen minute breathing meditation as
explained below can help you to overcome your stress and find some inner
peace and balance.
Meditation can also help us to understand our own mind. We can learn how
to transform our mind from negative to positive, from disturbed to
peaceful, from unhappy to happy. Overcoming negative minds and
cultivating constructive thoughts is the purpose of the transforming
meditations found in the Buddhist tradition. This is a profound
spiritual practice you can enjoy throughout the day, not just while
seated in meditation.
The purpose of meditation is to make our mind calm and peaceful. If
our mind is peaceful, we will be free from worries and mental
discomfort, and so we will experience true happiness; but if our mind is
not peaceful, we will find it very difficult to be happy, even if we
are living in the very best conditions. If we train in meditation, our
mind will gradually become more and more peaceful, and we will
experience a purer and purer form of happiness. Eventually, we will be
able to stay happy all the time, even in the most difficult
circumstances.
Usually we find it difficult to control our mind. It seems as if our
mind is like a balloon in the wind – blown here and there by external
circumstances. If things go well, our mind is happy, but if they go
badly, it immediately becomes unhappy. For example, if we get what we
want, such as a new possession or a new partner, we become excited and
cling to them tightly. However, since we cannot have everything we want,
and since we will inevitably be separated from the friends and
possessions we currently enjoy, this mental stickiness, or attachment,
serves only to cause us pain. On the other hand, if we do not get what
we want, or if we lose something that we like, we become despondent or
irritated. For example, if we are forced to work with a colleague whom
we dislike, we will probably become irritated and feel aggrieved, with
the result that we will be unable to work with him or her efficiently
and our time at work will become stressful and unrewarding.
Such fluctuations of mood arise because we are too closely involved in
the external situation. We are like a child making a sandcastle who is
excited when it is first made, but who becomes upset when it is
destroyed by the incoming tide. By training in meditation, we create an
inner space and clarity that enables us to control our mind regardless
of the external circumstances. Gradually we develop mental equilibrium, a
balanced mind that is happy all the time, rather than an unbalanced
mind that oscillates between the extremes of excitement and despondency.
If we train in meditation systematically, eventually we will be able to
eradicate from our mind the delusions that are the causes of all our
problems and suffering. In this way, we will come to experience a
permanent inner peace, known as “liberation” or “nirvana”. Then, day and
night in life after life, we will experience only peace and happiness.
Source how-to-meditate.org
