My Secret Gateway to Happiness
A client (yes, that's the term I'm going with) asked me a couple months ago: "How is it that you are happy all the time?"
The answer just came out of my mouth, without thinking:
"I meditate."
I was surprised by how accurate my unfiltered reply was.
Ever since I introduced a daily Meditation practice to my life - and that was less than half a year ago - everything has become clearer. Simpler. Lighter.
"If it were easy, there would be no point."
Being comfortable with stillness is hard at first.
Your mind starts creating all these distractions.
Countless times I would be absolutely certain that a mosquito was sitting on me, or, even, that I was getting stung. And it was all a creation of my mind.
This is why, when you are new to meditating in stillness, you have to keep your mind occupied. The object of your meditation can be anything, from a spark of light, to an affirmation, to your breath...
As soon as you surrender to silence, your physical body will start creating distractions.
The best advice that I can offer is "Find a good teacher." I feel truly blessed to have been surrounded by all these inspiring teachers in my life.
Adapting a beautiful shoutout to strong women:
"Here's to strong teachers.
May we know them.
May we be them.
May we raise them."
Why Meditate?
I appreciate the teaching that physical practice helps you assimilate your past, breath work helps you own your present, and Meditation helps you change your future.
Indeed, as my mind was creating mosquitos, wouldn't it be more beneficial for my Happiness that my mind created fireflies?
The point being that we create our own reality.
And, let me reassure you, at those moments of discomfort, my mosquitos were very much real.
Finding comfort in stillness helps find comfort in chaos. And then chaos ceases to be.
We get to understand that all we need in life is the air of our own breath.
And so we get to live life by our own standards.
We mindfully take decisions that change our every day to the better.
With intentionality, we regain control. We regain accountability.
We become aware of the fact that every one of us lives in the reality they create for themselves. And that it might as well be a happy one.
And that it might as well be a reality of service to this world.
This quote has just come to my mind: "Love responsibility. Say: 'It is my duty, and mine alone, to save the earth. If it is not saved, then I alone am to blame.'" (Nikos Kazantzakis)
My graceful teacher Karina has reminded me this week how my life is just a drop of water in the ocean of time.
Well, that drop deserves to be majestic. My life deserves to be beautiful. Full of Happiness. Full of Service.
It's that simple.
And it all begins with a breath. In stillness. Or not.