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P. 113
MEDITATION HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Meditation - A Personal Insight
by Pat Fleming
“The mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master”
-Robin S Sharma
How do you turn off the mind, shut down the endless struggle in trying to not have any thoughts, between
being occupied by them and trying to acquire an
inner chatter, stop the thoughts about things that inner state of emptiness. It felt a bit like holding my
you might worried or even frightened about?
We know that worrying never solved anything and breath under water, I could do it for a short spell but
it uses so much energy. Worse still it becomes a was more than glad to come back up to the surface
distraction from life. Worry draws you away from to suck in much needed air. While trying to sit there
being fully alive, and becomes a filter or sheath and not think, I found myself thinking about the fact
between what is arising in your life and what you that I wasn’t thinking, only to realise that what I was
perceive. We go to bed with our minds on, and we doing, was exactly that – thinking!
wake up with it still on. Worse still, if you happen to
wake in the middle of the night, it seems every worry That was my first lesson about meditation –that its
and concern wants to pay a visit. It’s no wonder we not about trying not to think but rather about just
can feel exhausted. becoming aware of what is taking place in my mind
as I sit there.
As I get older and start to become aware of
how challenging the process of ageing can be, The second more difficult lesson is not identifying
particularly in respect of the fact that there can be with the thoughts as they arise in my mind. There is
a feeling of redundancy as the busy world around a kind magnetism or stickiness with our thoughts.
us moves on and also in dealing with the sense of They suck you into the bubble and once you start
isolation or being alone, So it is with these facts that thinking about your thoughts, they just create more
I have come to really appreciate and value my daily and more thoughts, to think about. And here is where
practice of sitting or meditation. it takes a little practice, in catching yourself getting
lost in the story of what the thought brings up, and
when you do, in just being able to gently let the
DISCOVERING INNER PEACE
I started to meditate when I began to realise the
essential difference in being identified solely with thought go and return to the practice of sitting.
my thoughts and the experience of just being in When I started I just sat for 10 minutes and I could
the state of presence. Thoughts can be seductive
and its often nice to get lost in them. However, like find that all I seemed to be doing, was spending
the entire time following one thought after the
everything in life if we do it to excess it becomes a next. What I didn’t appreciate then was, that I was
problem. And worse, when we no longer know that
there is an alternative to the ‘always on mind’ and it building up the mental muscles to be aware of my
becomes our reference point to how we experience thoughts.
life. As I practiced and sat for longer, the flow of thoughts
eventually started to slow down to a trickle, such
When I started to meditate it seemed to be a that it became easier now to spot them and just
www.activeirl.ie Active Retirement Ireland 113
Meditation - A Personal Insight
by Pat Fleming
“The mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master”
-Robin S Sharma
How do you turn off the mind, shut down the endless struggle in trying to not have any thoughts, between
being occupied by them and trying to acquire an
inner chatter, stop the thoughts about things that inner state of emptiness. It felt a bit like holding my
you might worried or even frightened about?
We know that worrying never solved anything and breath under water, I could do it for a short spell but
it uses so much energy. Worse still it becomes a was more than glad to come back up to the surface
distraction from life. Worry draws you away from to suck in much needed air. While trying to sit there
being fully alive, and becomes a filter or sheath and not think, I found myself thinking about the fact
between what is arising in your life and what you that I wasn’t thinking, only to realise that what I was
perceive. We go to bed with our minds on, and we doing, was exactly that – thinking!
wake up with it still on. Worse still, if you happen to
wake in the middle of the night, it seems every worry That was my first lesson about meditation –that its
and concern wants to pay a visit. It’s no wonder we not about trying not to think but rather about just
can feel exhausted. becoming aware of what is taking place in my mind
as I sit there.
As I get older and start to become aware of
how challenging the process of ageing can be, The second more difficult lesson is not identifying
particularly in respect of the fact that there can be with the thoughts as they arise in my mind. There is
a feeling of redundancy as the busy world around a kind magnetism or stickiness with our thoughts.
us moves on and also in dealing with the sense of They suck you into the bubble and once you start
isolation or being alone, So it is with these facts that thinking about your thoughts, they just create more
I have come to really appreciate and value my daily and more thoughts, to think about. And here is where
practice of sitting or meditation. it takes a little practice, in catching yourself getting
lost in the story of what the thought brings up, and
when you do, in just being able to gently let the
DISCOVERING INNER PEACE
I started to meditate when I began to realise the
essential difference in being identified solely with thought go and return to the practice of sitting.
my thoughts and the experience of just being in When I started I just sat for 10 minutes and I could
the state of presence. Thoughts can be seductive
and its often nice to get lost in them. However, like find that all I seemed to be doing, was spending
the entire time following one thought after the
everything in life if we do it to excess it becomes a next. What I didn’t appreciate then was, that I was
problem. And worse, when we no longer know that
there is an alternative to the ‘always on mind’ and it building up the mental muscles to be aware of my
becomes our reference point to how we experience thoughts.
life. As I practiced and sat for longer, the flow of thoughts
eventually started to slow down to a trickle, such
When I started to meditate it seemed to be a that it became easier now to spot them and just
www.activeirl.ie Active Retirement Ireland 113
