When we operate from our ego, we have a very small, narrow perspective. Looking at things from a broader perspective, from other people’s perspective, or even from the universal perspective, a much greater wisdom can arise within us.
Only through meditation and mindfulness can we truly see things from the broadest perspective possible. We don’t make ourselves the victim because we don’t frame circumstances as “happening to us.” We don’t compare our possessions with someone else who has more. Instead, we simply watch the play of life unfold. This is the secret to living a joyful, peaceful life.
Clearing the Mind to See Clearer
Only when we become free from thought, beliefs and ideas can we become free from our own mental prison we normally live in. Meditation allows us the opportunity to practice breaking free from identifying with our mental activity. This frees us from believing our own mental story and from the impulses that cross our mind.
Once we are free from identification with thoughts, they become just another object of our awareness, like clouds in the sky. We can observe them, we can ignore them, but we will not become consumed by them.
Meditation is the practice of observing our thoughts float on by, over and over again, until we realize they are no more important than the passing clouds.
This is how we can clean the fog off of our eyes so that we can see the world as it is, not how we think it should be. This is freedom.
Tips for a More Transformative Meditation
For nearly our entire lives, we strive to be the best. We put needless pressure on ourselves, which only makes us perform worse than someone who is super relaxed and confident. This habit usually extends to beginning meditators.
Instead of trying to be the best meditator, try letting go of all expectations and pressure. Don’t try to clear your mind, just sit down and allow for whatever arises. Try to focus on your breath or mantra or body or whatever you like to use to put your focus on, and then let go of your goals for a perfect meditation.
This will allow for a relaxing and enjoyable experience instead of a rigid and uncomfortable one. The more relaxed the mind, the more still and quiet it becomes. We spend most of our lives stiff and tense, so we want meditation to be the time where we practice loosening up and making our mind more pliable so that we can become masterful over our focus and concentration.
The more we let go of all demands of ourselves, of all expectation, the more our mind can become present and peaceful. When our mind is peaceful, our entire life becomes peaceful. It all starts in the mind.
The Key to Changing Our Perspective
How much time do we spend practicing being present, seeing clearly, and being mindful? For most people, it’s zero minutes. For meditators, it may be 20 minutes a day.
Conversely, how much time do we spend practicing obsessive, chaotic, incessant thinking? All the time for most people.
If we are to change our perspective, we have to realize it takes time, practice, and patience. We have become experts at thinking our internal monologue is the most important and factual story on earth. It will take some time to expand our awareness beyond thoughts.
But thoughts are just like the clouds. As soon as we shift our attention from the clouds to the blue sky, we notice an expansive presence that has been there all along. Clouds can never alter the sky, only obscure it briefly. Once we know the unchanging sky, we will never forget it.
So too, when we realize that thoughts are just a tiny fraction of reality, they won’t seem so all-consuming. The key is to set aside some time for undistracted meditation so that we can deeply understand the passing nature of thoughts, and then spend the rest of the day in present moment awareness free from those thoughts.
Life is a meditation. When we treat it as such, we will become the masters of our minds, and free from its compelling mental narrative. From this state of awareness, we will be able to see the whole of life beyond labels, opinions, judgments, likes and dislikes. Instead of always feeling like there’s something to solve or figure out, which is exhausting, we can finally just be.
