August 2008

In my previous article on meditation, I introduced the benefits of meditating. In this article, I’ll offer some tips on getting on the meditation track.

When I first started doing meditation, I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to stay focused. Unless I was concentrating on a climb, getting into a meditative state was elusive given my rambling mind. But, just like all things, persistence and practice eventually yielded results.

And this one’s worth it.

What’s happening is that our mind is accustomed to be constantly on the move. Reflecting on past events. Worrying about the future. Processing negative distracting information. But not being at peace in the present moment, which is the only place to be. Sometimes I would meditate for an hour, and feel like I’ve only gotten a grand total of 1 minute silence.

The unconscious mind is strong and resists your attempts at neutralizing it. If you’ve tried meditation, and find yourself becoming impatient or fidgety, then meditation is even more important to do. Dont’ fret. What you’re doing is breaking a habit that you’ve carried as long as you lived and creating one of the best habits you’ll ever have, so give it time!

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calibrate: v 1 “make fine adjustments for optimal functioning”

When I first came across the concept of meditation, like many people in our busy society, I thought it was an incredible waste of time. I mean, after all, it simply required one to sit there and be seemingly “unproductive”.

This all changed after a fortunate series of events brought me to meditation. I met an amazing rock climber in Kentucky, and when I asked her for the secret to her skill, she replied “Yoga”. I immediately took up yoga afterwards, and after doing it a number of times, I noticed the incredible calmness I experienced during shavasana, or the final relaxation pose after a strenuous stretching session.

Meditation in Extreme Situations

If you like extreme sports, chances are you’ve cleared your mind and have had conscious meditative states already.

When I was outdoors rock climbing, especially on difficult and high problems, I became intensely focused on the climb, to avoid the unpleasant feeling of a fall if I made a mistake. Though I would never do a climb where my partner and I weren’t very safe, a big fall is still harrowing nonetheless.

At the time, I couldn’t explain it. All I knew was that I was focused immensely on my next immediate moves, and afterwards, could only explain it as “becoming really connected with nature.” The same could be said if I was white water kayaking a big rapid or speeding through the tree runs on my snowboard.

For a while, I was addicted to these sports, particularly rock climbing, because when I was dangling on rock faces high above the ground, I actually forgot about all my problems. I was in the moment. Focused on every movement. The only thought held in my mind was the climbing route. It might seem to be a rather extreme way to forget one’s problems, but at one point in time, my mind was running around like a headless chicken. My “problems” really bothered me a lot – I would be thinking about them before I got on the climb and after my climbing trip was over.

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In my previous article, Give Up TV Now, I introduced the concept of freeing yourself from the clutches of TV. Here are some practical tips to help get you on your way.

1. Remove the TV From Your Room

The TV really serves no purpose in your room. When I was young, sure, it was cool to have a TV in my room. Now, the concept of having a TV in my room is alien to me. The bed is reserved for sleep and sex. Anything other activities only serve as distractions that yield restless sleep, especially if you want to become an early riser.

Watching the news or a violent TV show in particular prior to sleeping will only disturb your subconscious and you’ll end up taking those images with you to sleep, whether you want to or not. If you live in a studio apartment or the like, make sure the TV isn’t facing the bed.

2. Reduce the Number of TV’s to One

When I was young, my family’s house had three TV’s, one TV short of one for every family member, and very often we’d all be separated into different rooms watching our own programs. Watching a TV program with my brother essentially separated us, as we zombified ourselves into the glowing world in front of us.

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“Where’d all the good people go? I’ve been changing channels I don’t see them on the TV shows”
- Jack Johnson

TV In Our Culture

Somehow, our culture has evolved so that the main room in the house is the entertainment room (aka The Living Space Formely Known as The Family Room). Rather than being a room where people can sit face to face and talk, all chairs and sitting furniture are oriented to face glowing plasma pixels.

And what an entertainment room it has become – the epitome of grandeur and success for many (especially single guys). Movie theatre digital sound system. Piles of remote controls – or the one universal remote to rule them all. Gaming consoles stacked one upon each other. Everything we need to become disconnected from the real world.

I’m sure you know someone who has a TV in every room of the house, and perhaps even know someone who has a TV in the bathroom, for distraction from those precious moments .

What would a room be without a TV? It would be such a boring place, right? It would require people to sit together, face each other, and have conversations about life outside the box. It’s hard when there are a lot of great dramas out there, but living vicariously through the lives of onscreen characters only serves to weaken your sense of reality.

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In their book Ask And It Is Given, Esther and Jerry Hicks strongly encourage using your emotions consciously as a guiding tool for your actions.  That is, if you put yourself into a positive state, then you can manifest your destiny via the Law of Attraction.

It is not usually possible, however, to make a sustained jump across several emotions at once.  That is, you could make a temporary jump  from overwhelment to contentment during a 2-week trip to Mount Kilimanjaro, but once you come back, the overwhelment will rear its ugly head again.

First, identify which emotions you’re consistently in.  Then, use positive thought manipulation to move up the scale, one emotion at a time.  For more details on doing this, read any of the Abraham-Hicks books.

It’s an interesting concept to have emotions laid out and ranked, but worth trying out.   What I find the most useful is to be aware of your emotions.   It is through awareness that we regain control of them and move towards more positive states.

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One of my favorite climbing films of all times is King Lines. It features renowned climber Chris Sharma, where after over 100 scary attempts on a route hovering over crashing waves, he finally ascends his project route (unclimbed, unfinished, and spectacularly difficult) . What’s really compelling about this film is just seeing Sharma’s focus and determination, on and off the wall.

In the final scene, after pondering upon the recent passing of his mother and his life ambitions, Sharma reflects, “We don’t know when we’re going to go. We don’t know when we’re going to die, so if something is important that I want to do then, I got to go for it now. ”

Well said, but more importantly, he puts action to his words, returns to his project route, and finishes it.

Our King Lines

Most of us are so caught up in the trials of life that we just live it to get by or to get to the next thing. Our dreams are put on hold indefinitely or even worse, someday – When I have this amount of money in the bank, When my kids finish school, When I am retired. You know what I’m talking about.

The fact is, now will never be the perfectly right time, especially if “the time” is dependent on external factors. It’s not much different from waiting for signs like the planets lining up while the parrot in the pet store mysteriously squawks “Go for it!”

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