A physician was recently asked, what’s the #1 behavior contributing to people’s ill health? Not surprisingly she said it was the way in which people deal with the stress in their lives – workplace, family, finances, and health, to name a few.
It does seem that everything is vying for our limited attention. Open your email, and … you get the picture. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Add to the mix, work projects and deadlines, relationship concerns, world news, and social media posts. We are wired up and melting down.
How do we stay sane and calm? How can we thrive when it’s so easy to get lost in the pressures of our daily lives? Even many common coping mechanisms – caffeine to power us through the day, and the use of alcohol and recreational chemicals to wind down in the evening – add to the problem. Stay with me, there is hope.
Turn to your Higher Self
First, let’s get a little abstract for just a moment. Who is it that’s lost in the pressure?
Best-selling author, Dr. Wayne Dyer gave us an insightful story. A woman phoned him one afternoon and within a few minutes, she was irrational and losing it. Fortunately, before becoming a celebrity, Wayne was a counseling psychologist. Skillfully he jumped in and interrupted the caller’s tirade. He told her he wanted to speak to the person who had it together to look up his phone number and dial the phone. You see, he knew that there was more than one self “in there.”
The emotional, hysterical self was not the one that he wanted to converse with. Like it or not, we all have an unhinged voice(s) in our head, while simultaneously a centered higher self or silent witness exists inside. This is our true self, the one that notices the chaos without getting overwhelmed by it. Which self is dominate in your life?
If your life is out of control far too often, your small or lower self is running the show. It’s time to bring your wise, true self to the forefront. The question is, how’s that done?
An analogy helps. Image being on a ship at sea when a storm comes up unexpectedly. Everyone onboard is scared, this could be the end. However, if there was scuba gear on the ship and you knew how to use it, you could put it on and dive deep into the water where you’d experience calm and delight.
Our mind is like this. Fears, insecurities, and stress are on the surface and deep within at the source of thought is the peace of your Higher Self. A worthy goal is to bring balance to your life by cultivating the stability that already exists deep within.
The crazed woman on the phone with Wayne was thrashing about on the turbulent surface of her mind. Fortunately, she was talking with someone who knew how to change the situation by helping her reach inside for her higher and wiser self.
Meditation to the rescue
This may sound difficult to do, but it’s not. The higher self is actually accessible to all of us, without effort. All that’s needed is a good tool along with knowledge of how to properly use the tool. Meditation is a just such a tool; it’s an ancient technology for diving inside to the quietest recesses of the mind.
With each dive, you saturate yourself with calm centered awareness, while the benefits of your meditation practice grow over time. Practitioners find that they are happier, healthier, and more resilient in the face of stress. Perhaps best of all, they are filled with energy to take on the day with enthusiasm and peace of mind.
This is why many say learning to meditate was the most important experience of their life.
Greg Schweitzer
Stress Reduction Resources, Director
Greg has been practicing and teaching meditation for over 40 years.
