GAME OF TRUTHS
Truth. A subjective word often layered and littered with stories of the past. It is one we assign to every shred of evidence we’ve collected about the “reality” observed in our personal experiences. Until we come face to face with a story that challenges the truth’s stability, that is. This instability is where things get interesting. And while many truths guide us in forming our multi-dimensional identities, there is an essential distinction between what constitutes a truth and what constitutes the truth.
While some experiences (and exchanges) between us may be complimentary and some conflicting, each one directs us toward an internal spot that begs observation and, in some cases, requires readjustment. This space between individual perceptions is difficult to pinpoint because it looks like a conflict between you and “them,” yet it’s really a reflection of you and you and where those are not in full, clear connection with one another. While we often opt to disengage with truths that don’t seem like our own, these perceptions act as filters, not inherently good or bad. They are simply indicators of where we currently stand (vibrationally speaking) on any given subject. That distinction reads like this:
There is the universal truth, and there is a perceptual truth. Universal truth exists regardless of whether one believes in it or not. A tree falls in the forest whether or not one is there to record the incident.
Perceptual truth exists in our offering of repetitive thought to a subject. A perception exists only insofar as its filters allow. If one perceives only the existence of mud in the water and not the water itself, one can never experience replenishment and clarity.
Sitting on the throne of thought
What if we became observers of perceptive thoughts rather than the personalizers of them?
In other words, when someone offers you a compliment or an insult, can you fully observe it without taking it on and forming another story around it?
If you are unable to, or you notice this is difficult for you when the situation presents itself, perhaps it is time to ask some more profound questions around the why. I’ve posted some for you to ponder at the end.
Sticky Perceptions Muddy Thoughts
Many have heard of Thich Nhat Hanh’s work and the saying “no mud, no lotus.” As profound as this is, many don’t understand it, and the deeper meaning is often misplaced as it is regarded in a way that coaxes us back into a familiar narrative that reads, “there is no happiness without first suffering.” While suffering is based upon perception, happiness is a divine birthright of all beings. One everyone has the inherent ability to rediscover.
This rediscovery comes to us by understanding our connection to source, and meditation fosters that connection. Committing to a consistent practice allows us to realign with universal truth (Laws of the Universe) and the transcendent form of love that we each are (and are ironically always seeking). Meditation practice acts as our connective tissue to the divine. It allows us to look into what we are (energy) and surpass the limitations surrounding who we think ourselves to singularly be (physical bodies). Like strings of fabric, we are surrounded by, create, receive and project energy in various forms.
We emit it in our multi-vibrational bodies (auric layers), and we constantly attract that which we are an energetic match. Quieting the mind, resting the body, and tuning in allows us to enter into a conversation with our source and clarify how to co-create our world. It is an activity that fully engages our energy systems, offering open access to the untapped information always available to us.
Change isn’t hard its just new
Before we witness and feel the shifts that come from a better “us,” we have to dive deep into our perceptions regarding identity and the identities we have assigned onto others as a result. This is the mud. However, it is not “hard work” as has been claimed. That is actually an old story being nurtured in a “spiritual” way, meant to re-emphasize that meditation or any other sacred practice is only for and achievable to a rigidly disciplined participant.
While it does require consistent participation (at least to be most beneficial), its effects hinge on the willingness to take off our masks. This element makes the work misunderstood as a difficult accolade one attains rather than an authentic experience one devotedly flows within.
soul remembers; body forgets
Now that we’ve discussed what meditation is not, let us talk about what the practice involves. In its essence, it is the state of remembering to forget and forgetting to remember. What meditation is (at first), is uncomfortable work. It is the art of unlearning past conditioning centered around identity and previously assigned meaning to self and others. Remembering who you really are means forgetting what you think you know about anything on every subject.
In this body, we are bombarded with constant stimuli, most of it not holistically or energetically beneficial. These states of dis-alignment are what causes discord and dis-ease. Any kind of meditative practice requires you to get into the crevices and corners of self that have often been neglected or not yet realized. It feels like cleaning out the dark corners of your closet, ridding it of cobwebs, and reconstituting that space as a clean, consecrated slate. Doing so allows you (the meditator) to foster new perceptions through the focused attention of higher vibrational thought.
Your cup overfloweth
There is a Zen proverb that speaks to this idea of “empty to be filled.” One which has been popularized in Western culture and appears on a Learn Religions blog post. It recounts a scholar (Tokusan) who comes to Ryutan (Zen Master) for dharmic wisdom. Ryutan continues to fill his guests’ cup during the visit, even as it overflows onto the floor. Tokusan is confused with this and says to Ryutan, “Stop, the cup is full!” The Zen Master replies with, “Exactly. You are like this cup; full of ideas. You come and ask for teaching, but your cup is full. Before I can teach you, you’ll have to empty your cup.”
In this sense, we can understand that to become limitless and unconditional, we must drop the artifices we hold that create the limited and conditional ways we live in our body.
No Destination
Just as a seedling peeks above the soil and reaches closer to its source of unwavering goodness (sunlight), so too the lotus rises above the mud of its making and sustains its beauty above the folds of darkness. A past that afforded it the clarity, brilliance, and strength it thrives because of, now.
To use another Zen proverb, the practice of meditation is how we “chop wood and carry water” along our journey. The enlightenment, healing, and empowerment nurtured within a spiritual practice is not a final destination. It is a consistent higher emotional state of well-being that we see first within, and due to our awareness of that internal shift, external evidence appears.
The kicker is, this “work” is never completed. As long as we remain in these physical bodies, it remains in practice. The sacred states of awareness we garner from becoming observers and eventually aligned co-creators of our world are the universal truths of meditation.
Tapping into the stream
Every human being on this planet who has experienced beneficial change on any subject has done so not because of hard work but because of consistent focus. Even if it starts at five minutes per day, daily meditation will elevate your emotional state and, eventually, your entire life. Staying the course and appreciating the journey (not tracking your progress to an imaginable destination) is the main component to any shift—energetic or physical.
Here are a few prompts to get you started. You can journal these while listening to binaural beats or Tibetan singing bowls (my personal favorite), or you can contemplate one or two inquiries during your regular, on-going practice. There are no hard or fast rules to this or anything else.
Remember, it is about you showing up for yourself and putting self-care at center stage. Make it a non-negotiable part of your day, start small and if you feel called, devote more time later. Eventually, it will become like breathing—effortless and necessary.
I’d recommend a goal of fifteen minutes upon waking in the morning hours. However, if less or more time is what suits you, have at it! Your practice, your prerogative.
MEDITATIVE JOURNALING EXERCISEs
- “When I hear the term self-worth, I feel… (write words that reflect emotions).”
- If certain situations or people come to mind, great! Journal about all of the emotions attached to that story or the events themselves. Honor what comes up for you. Reread it and don’t edit anything—just let it flow.
- Come back to it after twenty-four hours and notice any emotional fluctuations. Write down the next best thought and feeling you want to have regarding the situation. Rewrite the story from this perspective. What changed? How differently does it feel to be in the story now?
- Continue this practice with different scenarios and see how the shifts occur by reviewing your initial entries.
This one is from one of my favorite teachers, Colette Baron-Reid. She has a great meditation called “Get on Your Bird.” Here is the framework put into a journaling exercise…
- Take one of those lower emotions out of the previous prompt. If none occurred for you, think back to a situation where you experienced a negative feeling.
- Imagine if that emotion became an environment. If loneliness was a place, what would it look like? Close your eyes and imagine this or write about what it looks like in your journal.
- Come back to it later and write a new ending, just like those old Goosebumps books! Okay, aging myself, now.
- Imagine yourself being inside that place again, but this time, a beautiful flying creature (or contraption) comes to usher you up and out into safer lands. How does it feel as this distant place fades from view?
Meditation for Observation
- Notice the room or place you are sitting in. Collect details about the images in your environment. Simply notice as many as you can.
- Now, close your eyes and see what you can recall with great detail. Be aware of any outside noises or intrusive thoughts—don’t overthink them and let them take you away; just notice them (like cars passing on a roadway) and avert your attention back to recall the images.
- Ask yourself, who is the “I” that is viewing these mental images? Who is the “I” hearing the sounds (air conditioning unit, outside noise, etc.)?
- Now notice the sound of silence. Between one sound and another, there is quietness. Who is aware of the silence? Who or what is in the silence?
- Keeping your eyes closed, imagine walking up to a wall or whiteboard and drawing a simple shape on it (triangle, star, circle). Ask yourself, who is the “I” that is attracting and observing this shape?
- Let this image fade into a blank wall.
- Now place your attention on the temperature in the room and how your body feels there. What sensations are present, and who is the “I” that notices those? Have they changed since the beginning of this exercise? Which parts of your body feel different if any?
- With your eyes still closed, place your attention back to the mental-bodied observer and ask, who is this who observes? From this place, notice any emotions that come up for you. Are you feeling joyful, safe, distracted, tired?
Wide Open
While emotions and the degree we experience them change, the “I” observing and recalling images is unchanging and permanent. When you leverage your spiritual practice in an emotionally unwanted situation, you will be more easily able to follow the climate and environment your every thought is coming from—without trying to control, manipulate or internalize all that you experience.
After daily practice, you’ll become aware of how your thoughts create your understanding of reality (and reality itself). You’ll recognize that thoughts are observable and changeable, while the self (who observes them) is not changeable and is ever-present.
This is the unconditional, eternal part of you, the co-creator, your inner being. In this way, we become orchestrators of our minds rather than a product of them. In other words, by welcoming in unlimited thoughts, we can easily create the limitless possibilities we desire and align with who we really are.
