The idea of meditating is somehow tied to monks with shaved heads living in the mountains somewhere, undergoing hardships and living a life of renunciation. That is not so at all! Anyone can meditate. I have found this to be true in my own life. This fact is reinforced by the fascinating chat I had with the‘Urban Monk’ Pandit Dasa. So how do you meditate given your busy life in the middle of a city and why should you even make the effort? Watch this to find out.
Meditation and mindfulness.
As I tell my good friend, fellow entrepreneur and artist, Chad Lefevre, it is indeed possible to meditate even with a busy and fast paced life in the city. Pandit Dasa did exactly this. He spent some time in a monastery in India, and later he was also part of an urban monastery right in the middle of New York City. This was a place with a liquor store on one side and a tattoo parlor on the other – not a very monastic location. However I do believe that anyone can meditate and that everyone should. My own experiences with meditation after reading Paramahansa Yogananda, confirm this.
As Chad says, if enough people decide to practice mediation, this could be a tipping point into a largely meditative world with tremendous benefits. Mindfulness is something that we now understand the value of. This is about being present to whatever it is we are doing at that point, doing it consciously and fully. Practicing mindfulness is actually the first step towards meditation. Chad and I discuss how to make a start, and how it can be difficult, given that our brains can have up to 2000 thoughts per hour!
Giving gratitude.
Another important thing we discuss is the fact that we are all conditioned to respond more to negativity than to positivity. The fact is that we tend to have clear and longer memories of the negative people and experiences of life than the positive ones. Chad points out how on a review website such as Yelp, people are three to five times more likely to leave a negative review than a positive one. Can we overcome this negativity? Yes, we can do this by retraining our minds. I always say, we can train a dog, so surely we can train our minds that are so much more intelligent?
One of the ways in which we can retrain the mind to be more positive is to learn how to give gratitude. Chad tells me about his Gratitude Journal that he writes in every morning. That sounds like a great way to concentrate on the positives in our lives. Pandit Dasa also speaks about training the mind to gravitate towards the positives in life and has some beautiful metaphors for this.
I am always trying to find simple and inexpensive ways to enhance wellness and the quality of life and to bring these to my listeners. Listen in to this inspiring chat to know about some of these simple wellness tips that could transform your life. Also find out about Dr. John Beaulieu and his sound healing techniques that I will be speaking about in an upcoming episode. Until then, stay calm, stay present, and stay positive.
