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Love 2.0

What's the Point?

4/24/2014

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I just tried the self-love guided meditation available Here.

At first, I found it very annoying.   I'm not good at this kind of thing.

Then I remembered that the book said that the "self-love" meditation can be the hardest of all meditations.  When beginning a meditation practice, starting with something well-loved, like a child, a beloved teacher or life-long friend provides an easier path.

But what's the point?  This sitting still, thinking the same ideas over and over again is very difficult.  And what's the point, anyways?

When I was in elementary school, my older brother challenged me to a bet one day.  He said, "Put your arms out to your sides." 

I did as he said.  "I bet you can't hold them there for five minutes!"


"I bet I can!" I replied.

Well, I won the bet, but it was not easy.


Intellectually, I think there are at least two points to meditation
.  The first is practice.  The same way it is easy to hold out one's arms for a short period of time, it's a cinch to think about anything for a moment (or a micro-moment.)  What is harder, is to stick to something when it gets hard.  The practice is the practice of placing my attention where I choose to place it.  By giving myself an exercise that pushes me beyond the limits of what I do easily, I'm building strength.

The second intellectual point can be understood through the cognitive psychology research that has been done around the idea of priming.
  When I use a period of meditation at the beginning of the day to think quietly about what I choose to become, I am priming my mind.  I'm setting the lens through which I will experience at least some of the day!

I am going to keep trying.  Barb is right.  Loving-kindness doesn't fit all situations.  But I like to push myself beyond what I can already do.  
And I like being strong.

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    MELISSA MILLS uses science, history, and common sense to bring to focus familiar ancient teachings in religion and philosophy. 

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