Journey to Enlightenment Part 01

Author(s): Chitrabhanu, Chetana Catherine Florida, Nirmala Hanke, Raksha Penni Helsene
Publisher: Create Space

Page 46

June 1999: Mindfulness
Through our meditation practice, we have learned mindfulness, to pay attention to our thoughts, words and actions. From our thoughts come all of our words and actions. Since all that we say or do comes from our thoughts, they are there in our mind, whether we consciously want them or not. The positive thoughts we keep will be uplifting to us and others, and will show, manifest though our words and actions. The same is true of negative thoughts - they will also show and manifest through our words and actions. The person who does not try to change the negative thought patterns in his mind will end up being very miserable, and will want everyone to be in agreement with him. As in “misery loves company."
People who become aware of their own thoughts through meditation will also become more aware of others' thoughts, words and actions. Meditation works by bringing out the positive thinking, speaking and doing and letting go of the negative, which can pull you down. As you become more positive, you then draw more positive people to you and slowly, slowly the negative energy is left behind.
Meditation is, then, the inward step that must be taken. We can change habits without meditation, for example, giving up smoking or swearing or some other bad habit. But we cannot change the total personality into a positive, loving being without the stillness of meditation. Sometimes we may try, in a conscious way, to superimpose certain behavioral changes on our personality. However, when one superimposes a change, one must always be careful not to "slip”, because the superimposed personality can slip off like a cover on a bed, and expose the whole bed. To experience a true and natural change in the personality, you must meditate daily. Daily meditation permeates your consciousness with Love, Light and Divine Order, and as you become happier, your life is happier and eventually Bliss filled.
Through meditation we gain increased mindfulness, as time goes by. Mindfulness is necessary because it allows us to see the possible choices available to us in any situation. Through the purification process that happens during meditation our mind becomes more clear, we become more mindful of the choices we have. As we become more clear, we are better able to choose to respond to life in a positive way. Sometimes this clarity is just for an instant, but it is in that instant that we can make a positive choice. In this way we are purifying off the dross that covers the "gold" of the personality - who we really are.
It's not so much what happens to us but how we choose to respond that creates our future reality. With meditation as a daily practice we naturally begin to respect all life, wanting to harm no being anywhere thorugh our thoughts, words or actions, and thus we begin to have a life filled with happiness and bliss.
Namaste,
Chetana
On the Wings of Light and Love - 47