Conscious awareness is an experience. Still silent space, love, peace, joy and contentment are all experiences. They can’t really be described and they can’t be thought about. The only way these things can be understood is by experiencing them right now. That’s why it really helps to have someone sit with us, either in actual physical reality or virtually, and help us to find those experiences within ourselves.
For me, it has taken years of on/off practice and then a much more intensive period of practising Mind Calm (Mind Calm Meditation created by Sandy C Newbigging) to discover conscious awareness as a regular experience. Even as someone who loves to write everything down, to describe things in words, I feel powerless to capture this experience using language. I’m therefore incredibly grateful that I am on a path which allows me to sit with others and help them to discover conscious awareness for themselves.
The benefits of a regular meditation practice are many, and I don’t know a better explanation than the one in Sandy Newbigging’s own book. But everyone’s experience is slightly different and each person will highlight particular benefits as the most important to them.
I’ve known the benefits of increased calm, lower stress levels and just plain liking myself better for several years now. But one of the biggest things I have gained from Mind Calm has been a much greater level of detachment. I knew intellectually that the stuff of life, possessions, position, relationships etc, will come and go and can’t be relied upon to make us happy. I had also begun to understand that I am not my mind or my emotions. I knew those things but, as we all know, understanding something intellectually and living it can be worlds apart. Mind Calm has taught me, in very practical ways, to be far less attached to all that stuff. I can have negative thoughts, uncomfortable feelings, problems with other people, life issues, and although I might not like those things, I can live separately from them. If bad stuff happens, I don’t have to lose my experience of peace.
Everyone has a unique path, and up to now this is mine. My life is exquisite from the inside but you might not recognise it as such from the outside! I know which I’d choose every time though.
If you meditate regularly, what would you define as your greatest gain from that practice? And if you are still looking for a comfortable practice, what would you like to gain? I’d love you to share!
Hi Harriet,
The biggest benefit for me is that I have learned to let go of the mind chatter, and can be more intune to the intuition that flows through. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing Karen. What a dramatic difference that must make.
I meditate regularly. For me if keeps me focused.
Thanks Mary. I expect there are many people who would be surprised to know that focus can be a benefit to meditation.
I agree with all these advantages of having a regular meditation practice. It’s certainly been my experience anyway. One of the biggest things for me has been learning to let go, surrender, and go with the flow more. I used to be a complete control freak, and while I wouldn’t say I’m completely cured(!) it’s certainly a work in progress but I am much more relaxed about everything. Calm is never a word that would have been used to describe me 10 years ago :)
Aha, brilliant! It’s hard to let go of control but so well worth it! And as time goes on we don’t realise the progress we are making until we look back, as you say about things being so different 10 years ago. Thank you.