| The Mind Journey Begins With A Step In The Forest | | | | loss, and more loss. |
| Years ago, well before I had ever heard of "The Law | | | | Old habits returned. Procrastination took over where I |
| Of Attraction," I was a backpacking traveler wandering | | | | was once able to get things done quickly. Instead of |
| the earth in search of - well - in search of adventure | | | | meditating, I watched hours of TV. I tried and tried |
| and experience. I was never into recreational drugs; but | | | | money making scheme after money making scheme, |
| I was definitely interested in pleasant mind experiences. | | | | only to find myself in the hole so deep I was ashamed |
| In India, droves of traveling folks headed to popular | | | | to tell anyone about the "businesses" I was involved in. |
| meditation centers and ashrams that accepted | | | | I could not make things click, even when I gave up the |
| foreigners. This was not what I was looking for. I | | | | tv and the money-making schemes. My self-imposed |
| headed to Sri Lanka, and found a Buddhist retreat | | | | work schedule included about 20 hours a day trying to |
| hidden away near a fairly small town, not too very far | | | | figure out how to make money. And during all this time, |
| from Colombo. I was the only westerner there. | | | | I can honestly say that everything about my life was |
| Once, a younger student came to fetch me for | | | | falling apart. |
| supper. We were both barefoot, and had to traipse | | | | If I could draw a picture of the way I felt day in and |
| through a forest to get to the dining area. When the | | | | day out, it would be a thousand puzzle pieces - each |
| student saw that I lagged behind, he asked if | | | | with a part of my face - scattered in all directions, like |
| everything was okay. I told him I wasn't used to | | | | they'd been lifted by a whirlwind. |
| walking barefoot over twigs and rocks. He told me, "I | | | | The Mind Comes Back To Rescue Itself |
| know every inch of this forest." | | | | I will not claim to be fully recovered or a highly |
| The student was so agile as he walked through the | | | | successful millionaire. But I can say that within a few |
| forest as though he were walking on sand. It was then | | | | days after I found the solution, I found myself a |
| that I made a discovery about meditation; it never | | | | hundred times closer to my goals. What I found was, I |
| stops. While walking, talking, playing sports, or doing | | | | am still able to meditate. Everyone is. |
| anything, your mind can be attuned to who you are, | | | | And here is another thing I found. All the success |
| where you are, and what you're doing. The oriental | | | | coaches - all those motivation guys who want to put |
| martial arts, in fact, originated in mind exercises, i.e. | | | | you together with your destiny - they all know about |
| meditation. | | | | the power of meditation. And most even talk about it in |
| The Rough Road To Simplicity | | | | one way or another; they just never call it, "meditation." |
| At the retreat, the guru taught me a simple form of | | | | You see, to make things click, to bring peace and |
| Buddhist meditation, which, of course, I cannot repeat | | | | harmony into your life, even to bring more money into |
| here, for I am not a guru. But I will say that there was | | | | your life, you don't even need to do the kind of |
| nothing to chant, nothing to look at, and it had the same | | | | meditation I did in Sri Lanka. There's another easy kind |
| aim as any meditation - to empty the mind. | | | | of meditation that only takes about 20 minutes. At 20 |
| I had great difficulty with this, for my mind is always | | | | minutes a day, a person can build up an ability really |
| active with lively content that I need to think about. But | | | | fast. |
| after a while, I was doing meditation for eight hours a | | | | Meditation Only HELPS You With The Goals You Set |
| day. Even after I left the retreat, I continued to | | | | Meditation,alone, cannot bring a person out of any |
| meditate on the beach for hours at a time. | | | | mess he is in. It is not magic. However, sometimes the |
| When I was in Sri Lanka I learned to have no intent | | | | results of meditation feel magical, and meditation does |
| with meditation, other than clearing the mind. I did not | | | | help you get your head straight. |
| try to levitate. I did not try to become a teacher or | | | | Recovery from years of loss will not happen in one |
| become an evangelist for meditation. I just did it, to | | | | day. But I do believe that meditating one time, the right |
| clear and relax the mind. | | | | way, can lead to giant leaps on the road to |
| Yet I was never able to conquer the meandering mind. | | | | inner-peace, harmony, and success. I believe it can only |
| It had ideas of its own. And it presented the ideas to | | | | do great things for you if you make it a daily habit. |
| me in herds just as I was trying to clear my mind of all | | | | I also believe, from experience, that meditation can help |
| thoughts. Some were great ideas, too. But I had to | | | | you bring about the changes in your life that you seek, |
| treat them like a pilot treats turbulence. | | | | but only if you don't depend on meditation to do it. |
| Weird Things Begin To Happen | | | | What I mean is, the reason for meditation is NOT to |
| I continued to practice meditation at least an hour a | | | | bring changes in your life. But things occur in the |
| day after I went back to my roots in the western | | | | meditative state that bring about changes that you |
| world. | | | | want. |
| And then, weird things began to happen: Things and | | | | The reason for meditation is to relax your body and |
| people started to come into my life, just as I had a | | | | clear your mind. That is what you must intend when |
| need for them. It was as if I had become a magnet for | | | | you meditate, nothing else. To clear your mind means |
| the right people and things to just come to me. | | | | just that - "clear." No goals, no problems, no |
| Suddenly I had friends - I had a job that I liked - people | | | | anticipations, no disappointments, no tension, and no |
| showed me respect, without my even knowing them - | | | | stress.. Just a clear mind - ready to receive what |
| I could concentrate and write better than before. | | | | comes your way. |
| Animals came around. I could take a walk in a forest, | | | | The Mind Journey Never Ends |
| and I'd see animals that usually don't let themselves be | | | | Just as that student was always in a state of astute |
| seen by people; not rare animals, by any means, just | | | | awareness of himself and his surroundings, you may |
| shy ones. They seemed to welcome me to their | | | | find that habitual meditative exercise puts you in a |
| habitats. | | | | habitual state of mind. I cannot think of a better way to |
| All With One And At One With All | | | | explain this. It is not that you are in a deep trance all |
| I was able to predict things before they would occur | | | | the time. It is just that you have heightened awareness |
| (which, by the way, is the best time to predict | | | | of yourself and your surroundings. |
| anything). This is not a special gift of precognition; it is | | | | You find that everything flows, and you flow with it. If |
| simply a heightened sensitivity to surrounding | | | | someone asks you a question, somehow you just |
| circumstances making it easier to guess what events | | | | have the right answer. When there is a decision to |
| would follow these circumstances. | | | | make, you just make it. No lengthy deliberation that |
| The world; its people, its animals, its nature, were all | | | | gets nowhere. You have patience for everything, and |
| being good to me. And I did not know stress - or | | | | for some reason those things that try your patience |
| anger - or disorganization. Things just seemed to click | | | | seem to fizzle away. |
| and fall into place, and somehow I was attracting good | | | | I have restarted this journey, and in days I have |
| things to my life. It was a time of inner-peace and | | | | witnessed amazing strides in my own battles. I hope |
| harmony with the world. Everything clicked, and I had | | | | some people will find a message in my writings and |
| nowhere to go but up. | | | | then embark on their own Mind Journeys. I hope that |
| And Then It All Fell Apart. | | | | meditation catches on, not as a fad or a gimmick or a |
| Suddenly, I lost it all. It was all gone; everything. | | | | way for some "gurus" to make money; but as a |
| There must be hundreds of explanations how a guy | | | | creative habit to replace destructive habits. |
| could be on a roll in life, and then suddenly roll straight | | | | I think this is the real reason I want to see more people |
| to the depths of despair. Illness or trauma could be | | | | doing secular meditation (i.e. not attached to any |
| possible explanations. But, no matter what the impetus | | | | religion). I really believe that the personal benefits of |
| to a downward trend, the only things that I can think of | | | | meditating every day, can be magnified if everyone in |
| to explain continued self-defeat are laziness and lack | | | | a community adopted a habit of meditation. And what |
| of discipline. | | | | if everyone in a country did this - and everyone on a |
| I lost concentration; I became more stressed and | | | | continent - and everyone in the world. Wouldn't things |
| confused; material possessions - gone. Ability to make | | | | be better for everyone, then? |
| things happen - gone. Inner-harmony - gone. Things just | | | | Keep a smile on your face and a dance in your feet. |
| stopped clicking. The only thing I attracted was loss, | | | | |