Dear Khaj #04: Spirit-Nourishing - How to? OUR Practice

 

Dear Khaj,

As I said in my last post, there are many ways to do "meditation" (spirit-nourishing, mental prayer, mindfulness practice, centering, etc.). The important thing, as I said, is to do it regularly and treat it like "mind brushing."

What We Did

But let's go down memory lane a bit. In your earlier years when we regularly did our "home church" together, we would go through the following steps that I'll recount here to jog your memory. Remember: This could be a good process for a regular meditation/spirit-nourishing practice all your life! You could even teach it to others ...

Breathe

We would start with the BREATH. Focus on your breathing: your in-breath and out-breath. Breathing is the very foundation of our life as humans: If you stop breathing, you'll die! It is also the anchor that frees us from the endless thoughts that distrct our minds and connects us to the present moment (the "Now"). Importantly, it connects us immediately to our body. 

Gratefulness

From there, we would usually move to RECALLING (by the fact that we can still breath) that we've been given the GIFT OF LIFE. I always invited you to be grateful first and foremost for life. From there, we would move to consciously being GRATEFUL (to God/to the universe) for everything and everyone that come along with the gift of life: LOVE, Friendship, our family and extended clan, our friends, the beauty of nature, our beautiful experiences, the people who take care of us and help us when we're in need, etc. 

Listening to the Wisdom of Tradition

After that we would READ (or RECALL) or LISTEN to a piece from the wisdom-spiritual traditions we're part of. That usually meant something from our Christian or Buddhist traditions. You know my favourites: nuggets of wisdom from the Bible, from our church's YouTube channel, from Thich Nhat Hanh, and other sources. Of course, you don't have to be limited to those. You can find wisdom-spirituality practically everywhere! You'll have your own sources which--you'll know--nourish your spirit well. Make use of them!

Reflect (Meditate) and Pray

After we've read or listened to wisdom passages, we paused and took time to THINK and REFLECT on what we heard. And then we would PRAY: for ourselves, for our loved ones, for the world. 

The Main Point

"Just Do It" Regularly!

This is only one way (among many others) by which we can do spirit-nourishing. It means a lot to me because we used to do it regularly: you and I. I learned the basics of this back in that boarding school in my teens. I still follow pretty much the same structure during my regular quiet time now. Whenever you do this yourself or with others, recall that I'll always be there with you --- even though I may no longer be physically present in this world. 

The main point is that it is good to have a concrete practice (your "method") for spirit-nourishing that you will do regularly ... whether you feel like it or not! Only regular practice will make a difference. It's better to have just a few minutes but done regularly, than a long one but done only infrequently. Believe me: regular spirit-nourishing IS one of the most important keys to keep you at peace, grounded, and truly happy. It will change you for the better and help you to make the world a better place.

---

Dear Khaj #03: Meditation - "Brushing Your Mind"

Dear Khaj,

I'll just pick up from my last post where I was telling you that one of the first things I learned in those early mornings at the boarding school was "how to fix my bed" (that is, accomplishing something little at the beginning of the day). That prepped me to have a good and productive day. 

What I did at 5:15 am at the Study Hall

After that, it was down to the study hall by 5:15 am for a 45 minute study period before spiritual exercises in the chapel at 6 am. I don't know what made me resolve to do this but I decided that I would spend the first 15~20 minutes of the day doing--what we used to call--"mental prayer" at that time. That is now popularly known as meditation. It is also called by other names: mindfulness practice, prayer, centering exercise, contemplation, etc.

Meditation -the key to improve ourselves

Meditation has become a popular practice nowadays, especially the kind that is detached from a spiritual goal, and for many good reasons For instance, a growing body of scientific research shows that meditation has massive benefits, both for the mind as well as the body. Of course, a long time before it became a secular trend, the great spiritual-wisdom traditions (the world religions) were already constantly teaching that meditation is necessary to acquire authentic wisdom and a deeper spirituality. 

I can personally attest to the truth of all that. I have practiced meditation since those days as a 13-year-old and I don't exaggerate when I say that this practice has kept me sane, grounded, happy, and peaceful all through my life!

I heard a meditation teacher relate that when he is asked by people how to improve their lives, he straightaway recommends that they begin a regular practice of meditation. Some would kind of make fun of that suggestion and react by saying, "C'mon, we don't have time for that. Give us something real, man!" And he would answer, "If you don't have time for 20 minutes of meditation a day, you probably need two hours!"

The point here is that a regular meditation practice is actually the key to "improving" yourself, not to mention helping you attain true health, peace, and happiness. Let me use language that is more understandable to younger people nowadays. Everyone knows that there is a sort of epidemic of mental health issues in our world today. Many people experience depression, loneliness, low self-esteem, despair, a pervasive negativity about life, lack of enthusiasm, even suicidal thoughts, and so on and so forth. 

"Brushing our Minds"

It is clear that a major cause of that is because it's so easy, especially in this present era characterized by an information explosion, to have our minds filled with all sorts of negativity or, in other words, (apart from the many benefits of our information age) we also get a lot of (pardon the language) cr*p from being connected 24/7 to the world wide web. Many of us never do any proper processing of what effect being always "connected" does to our minds and hearts.

 It is all the more urgent then today to be able to do something that is akin to "brushing our minds" (that from self-improvement teacher Brian Johnson) in order to maintain good mental health. Don't you think that image is so insightful? Just imagine: If you never brushed your teeth although you use them to chew food several times a day, they would be rotten in no time at all! Isn't it scary to realize that we actually do that to our minds?! Our minds are constantly bombarded by so much information today. If you don't "brush your mind" regularly, your mind will become rotten in no time at all (aka, be clogged by "mental health issues"). You just can't be this exposed to too much information without good maintenance of your mind. And that maintenance can be done mainly through meditation (or whatever you want to call this exercise). 

The Main Point

There are many ways to do or to begin meditation. I'll write about that next time. But just remember for now: Doing some form of meditation (or quiet prayer or mindfulness exercise, etc.) is something like "brushing your mind" --- you just do it regularly ... everyday, twice a day!

Related to that, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal said: "All of humanity’s problems come from one thing: not knowing how to sit quietly in a room" ... (and I would add) to do some "mental brushing" (or meditation).

(j’ai dit souvent que tout le malheur des hommes vient d’une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos dans une chambre. -Pensées #139)

---