Mindfulness

Meditation is something I have been trying for years. Just couple of months back, I never could do it with interest or enthusiasm. I would start it because all the people over the internet or my friends and colleagues at different places talk about it and say numerous things about it. I would start because of something I read in some articles or blog posts. 

Additionally, it is also something being practiced everywhere. And people talk a lot  about many benefits of meditation and Mindfulness. And yeah, I tried to listen to them. If so many successful people been doing it and so much people been talking about it, then I was like- Why not me?? I used to cross my legs like Buddhist monk(It used to hurt man, terribly), close my eyes, be erect and do nothing. Just be there. Cause those blogs and articles said so. I couldn't even pass cross couple of minutes. 

In those days, I generally ended up being bored, and fade up with it. I mean I couldn't even feel any difference of pondering those minutes over the thing I don't like doing. I even downloaded couple of apps on my phones and tried to listen to those slow talks and lingering stuffs. Oh, it was so boring. I used to do it some days and forget about it days later. 

And eventually I even labelled myself that I am not the sort of  person for meditation. I mean I thought meditation was something for deep thinking, critical thinking, and  for those Buddhist monks.

And as they say, Everything must come to an end. Finally my all false beliefs came to an end. And I feel so great and proud that it eventually ended. That was the struggling phase, I suppose. My tiny little brain used to have many fight and debate over this topic, because this was the topic I heard a lot and  read about a lot without having proper knowledge.

And then couple of weeks ago, I grabbed this Book called Mindfulness(In plain English) By Henepola Gunaratana.

And I have to admit, I even do not know the ultimate benefits of meditation, but as a beginner I have been finding this topic pretty fascinating. I have been seeing the changes it brought in me in this very short time. I am trying to read the book and apply the concept in day to day activities. What I eventually found is- My earlier attempts were so futile cause I haven't been so serious about it. I mean I tried to be serious but the thing is that I didn't know about the techniques, methodologies, histories, tiny little details about this very topic. Hence that lack of little knowledge, skills, techniques bored me terribly.

I even used to label my meditation practice to the things it would yield later on. I would sit on the practice expecting things to turn out in this way or that way. I found that the very moment you sit for meditation you see things as they are, not what you expect of it or you assume of it. Meditation makes you aware of things happening now and you get accustomed to things going in the very moment. It teaches you to know whats going on in your mind, about those impulses, stimulus and body responses. For example: When you hear something disturbing, you are so consumed by the constant feeling you labelled with it that you don't notice the very process that is going fine. I mean you are just receiving the sound signals from an object, that is passing through your tiny ear pinna and is vibrating your tiny little ear drum with tiny little bones adjoin with it. I mean do you need to be so ruthless and unforgiving for a given sound signal and spoil all the good things that are going well ( You can hear, there are people who can't). And you go with the day carrying that bitter feeling, just because of a freaking sound.

Being mindful is observing things and that very act brings the change. I didn't know about those things back then. When I researched about it, read about it, read about many examples and transformations, then things became pretty clear for me.

Being able to write this much about this topic is sort of miracle for me. And this very attempt is just a beginning. I wish on exploring it more in the coming days.