I’ve experienced some challenging periods in my life. One, in particular, was like a tsunami leveling everything. Looking around at the remaining shards, I could see no way to piece together my former life. The only question that remained was, “What now? Where do I go from here?”
There’s a way of seeing where you look through how things appear to be with your eyeballs and see with what might be called spiritual vision. It’s a knowing and is clearer and more beautiful than anything seen with the eyes. Continue Reading »
I know it’s sometimes hard not to keep rereading the same chapters in our lives. Sometimes, I have to just stop and consciously look at what I’m doing and what I hope to accomplish by doing it.
Have any of my carefully placed bookmarks in all those chapters from the past ever brought me a sense of peace? Can I change anything that happened yesterday? My answer has to be, “No.”
It’s not necessary to know anything about meditation to begin with. For me, meditation is where I get quiet and ponder ideas of truth. It might just be one idea that I think about for a while, and it can be from any spiritual source you feel drawn to. I ponder it as a child—with curiosity and humility, knowing that even if I’ve received some clarity on the idea, the depths I can go are infinite, so I don’t assume I know anything.
I do this to quiet and lift thought to a place of greater receptivity. I then get very quiet and listen within. This second part is what I call prayer. I am listening. I am waiting. Again, I approach like a child who knows she does not know but is willing to be led, taught, and to be shown. I sit in trust and confidence that there is a presence within me ready to guide me and show me what I need to see and learn.
I’ve found that long mediation periods aren’t as helpful as many, very short periods throughout the day. These can last less than a minute to about two minutes, sometimes extending naturally to longer periods.
You may not feel anything or hear anything while you are sitting quietly. That’s okay. This does not mean that your efforts were wasted or ineffective. You will begin to see more clearly–it might be while you’re doing the dishes, driving your car, or doing something else.
Many mistakenly believe meditation is about stopping your thoughts. It’s not. Don’t even try to stop your thoughts. Even if you find your mind is racing, just watch them like train cars passing by, and if you notice that you’ve jumped onto the train, simply step off again and watch them. You did not fail if you find you’re riding the train over and over again. It can help to have one idea or truth or a word to bring your focus back to.
This isn’t about making affirmations to “make” something happen; it’s about getting quiet and making room so the light that has always been shining can enter your awareness.
I forgot to mention something very important: If you find great resistance at any time when you are meditating, do it for a little longer. If the resistance continues, stop and go about your business. Do not fight yourself. Come back later and try again…rinse and repeat. This isn’t something to be done with force or great effort. Gently.
The more comfortable we become with the unknown, the more life becomes a miraculous adventure. The known is necessarily just a repeat of the past. In order for something new to enter (the unknown), we have to make room for it.
I had deep feelings of despair from a very young age. I looked everywhere and in everything to find some sense of solace but my despair only deepened. Only after I began to look within did I find an indescribable sense of peace. Continue Reading »
I had the idea for this image, but I had no idea how I wanted to caption it. The thought I had in making the image was that we often look around for answers, for a flicker of light—looking here, there, and everywhere—but that it might be time to be the light we are searching for.
All illustrations and text within any illustrations are created, illustrated and authored by JaneLeeLogan and are protected under copyright and international intellectual property laws.
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Princess Sassy Pants & Co.™ 