Meditation Articles Series

When someone says or does something that triggers a reaction in you and you respond in a reactive way, what do you notice?

When I react negatively to what someone says or does, I notice extreme agitation in my body.  I also notice the turmoil in my thought patterns.  I feel out of control.  I am destabilized, and I may become confused and withdrawn, or I may criticize the other in defence of myself.  All of me that is defined as body, mind, emotions, and spirit contract.  Interestingly as I reflect on how it’s been for me I realize that I also contract in time and space.  I am locked into misery. I am in a state of fear.

A State of Presence

When I don’t react negatively to someone’s words or behaviour that would have been a trigger in the past, I notice how different I feel.  I notice expansiveness within myself.  This expansiveness feels vast and boundless. Time and space seem to expand as well.  I am aware of loving kindness toward the other and myself.  I have remained conscious.  In that consciousness I am here and now.  I am fully present in the now. There is connectedness between me and the other.  In this state of non-separation love arises.  This is our natural state of being. 

Meditation is a path to unfolding into that state of being that flows into all life.