Taking Root

Continue to get yourself around : The longer you sit, the more likely it is that your mind wanders. That's good; The main thing is to realize that you have drifted and switch back to your focus. When your mind wanders, try naming it, such as saying thinking in your brain and then refocusing on your breath. By not sharing your success with others, you deprive them of their motive to support your success. If by acknowledgment you give recognition to the important part others have played in your success, they will all join you in supporting it and in celebrating it. The way to make a lifelong enemy is to have someone contribute to your life and refuse to acknowledge it. So many people do this with their spouses and fail to acknowledge the part their inspiration and efforts played in achieving success. Many businesses are problematic, because the owners refuse to share their success with the employees, much less with the customers in any way. The employees are on an hourly wage, hired by an impersonal distant corporation. It sure feels like that's the case when we go there. They couldn't care less about us. They are going to make the same amount of money whether they knock our socks off or not, and they know it. The motivation has been zeroed out. Aren't you tired of living life like a double exposure: a little of the real you showing through somebody else's idea of who you are supposed to be? Good Wishing Gone Bad Wishes are holy. They have their own integrity and don't like to be tempted with approximations. When we renounce this wishing force, it can turn dark and hostile, bedeviling us with unwanted thoughts that seem alien to the self. Intractable fears and unwanted fantasies can take the place of our original, simpler desires.

Freud was right about many fears being nothing more than disguised wishes27. We don't like what they may be telling us. Frightened and unsure of our feelings, we may mistrust our wishes even more, not realizing they have come to rescue us. To whom does your life belong? Try breathing deeply : Trying deep breathing is one easy way to get started with meditation. Start by putting your chest with a hand and your stomach with a hand. You should find your stomach expanding more than your chest when you are breathing, as you are trying to breathe deeply as possible. Closing your eyes will help. Slowly, breathe in through your nose. Keep your breath to the count of seven, then let the count of eight (in your head) slowly fall out of your mouth. When you try this exercise, try taking five deep breaths each time. Make sure you blow it out absolutely. Growing your skills in meditation Consider a class to take, although classes are not for everyone, and your meditation practice will begin with a class jump, making it easier for you to make it a daily practice. The basis for human endeavor has been removed. They have been denied dignity and worth as individuals. They are mechanical, joyless, going-through-the-motions employees. There are mechanical foods served by mechanical people in mechanical surroundings in a lackluster manner for a price. Although it is supposedly cheap, it is really very expensive when we compare our dollars with what we get for them. The efficiency experts and computers have really had their day and have successfully dehumanized the whole experience.

By contrast, when I go into a certain local supermarket, I see the same smiling employees, year after year. Customers in line are smiling and laughing with the cashiers. Older customers are sitting in the front of the market at little tables, chatting away, having their afternoon club meeting there, in the company of friends. Up over the manager's counter is an award plaque. The answer to this question determines your attitude toward your dreams and wishes. Totalitarian regimes and dictators are found in families and communities everywhere. When your life doesn't belong to you, then your wishes can seem to be a threat to the group's security. You too will see your wishes as dangerous as long as you do not believe you have the right to a life of your own. A little ridicule, rejection, or well-placed threat of abandonment and most of us can be persuaded to turn against our deepest wishes. But your wishes continue to flow only one way. Your mind works like water running through a pipe. Ideas never turn around and flow back up the pipe. Nothing can ever change the direction of an idea's intention, which is to be expressed outward into the world. None of us has a choice about this: it is the way we are built psychologically and spiritually. Plus, a class will help you find out a good starting point if you have no idea where to begin. In your city, look for meditation centers. Some yoga studios also offer courses in meditation. Buddhist temples or centers in your region are also likely to give meditation lessons. Through your library or your parks and recreation department, you can also find meditation classes, and some churches offer meditation classes, especially those that follow other practices, such as the Unitarian Universalists. Let distractions do not make you anxious.

When they meditate, everybody gets distracted. That may make you nervous or angry at yourself when you start out for the first time. Instead of getting upset, though, just try to be mindful of when your thoughts wander and bring them back to meditation. You realize that even a bit of meditation will help. Surprisingly, what does the award plaque say? It is the annual award to the Friendliness Family. It is not just recognizing an individual but a family. It acknowledges that there is more than just one person involved in their performance. The award does not go to the employee with the biggest sales but to the friendliest. Isn't that amazing? How long does it take to become a success? The answer is: exactly one second. The second you decide to be a certain way, you already got it. Success is yours the instant you get that it is not out there. Fortunately we are not equipped with the means to totally eradicate our wishes. When you turn against your wishes and push them out of your mind, you are not getting rid of them; And like any wounded, living thing, our wishes can turn on us. What was originally your innocent childhood need, your constructive intention, can be attacked and rejected to the point where it must fight for its life. And nothing in this state is a very pretty sight. Your wounded wishes may take on forms that are unrecognizable, scaring you with their bizarre appearances, irrational intensity, and obsessive persistence.

Beverly's Story Beverly had given up much of her own life to take care of others. She had been so loyal to her parents that she gave up her own hopes for a family and put her energies into running her parents' household. She was a loving auntie to her brother's children and had found a kind of peace in her decision not to have a family of her own. That is, you might think you have to meditate at a certain time every single day for it to be beneficial. If you slip into that thought, though, you could find yourself giving up because you are missing a few days. Bear in mind that it can help boost your memory with even a little meditation. Try to meditate when you can, then, even though you don't have time every day to do it. Try meditation with instructions. You can always profit from the wisdom of others if you do not want to take a lesson. Try to do a guided meditation. Many of them can be found online, or you can download free software. The person will walk you through a meditation phase on the other end, encouraging you to learn how to do it. Just change it up: Each time, you do not have to meditate the same way. It is not what you have. It is not even what you do. Doing only contributes and having only embellishes. It is what you are that creates success. To decide to be a certain way is all that is required. No master's degree, diplomas, correspondence courses, boring lectures, or workshops are necessary.