Episode 9 - The Meditation of Action

0:08 Welcome, you are listening to the podcast, a resonant life produced. By the time is now Productions. I am Mike Thompson, your host, and reflector and chief. In this podcast, we will discuss experiences and insights, from living a life devoted to uncovering the authentic self. And finding fulfilling purpose from the past, the present and the future. This podcast is a product of my life and experience and I'll share my opinions. Opinions between people are various and we don't all need to hold the same ones, but it is fun to hear the opinions of others as it gives us an opportunity to freshen up our own. If you enjoy and gain Insight from listening, Please Subscribe.

0:59 And share. If you have questions, please email them. And as always, nothing you hear here is a prescription or a prescription. It is a discussion of life and life's internal and external experiences. So, let's get to it. And welcome. Welcome to a Resident Life episode 9. So happy, you've joined us today and I'm looking forward to talking about our topic today, which is meditation, and mindfulness meditation is a very broad word and there's so many different kinds of meditation out there. That when somebody makes a resolution to start meditating to improve their live or to calm Themselves down or to deal with anxiety or pain, whatever it might be. There's so many choices and options and it's often difficult to choose the right one for you, the right meditation practice for you.

2:08 And then it's even harder to stick with it because our minds are busy things. And when we encounter obstacles, our minds continue to pull us away from those resolutions to meditate to calm down, and to overcome that sort of, They called monkey mind. I guess so, as I said, there's an infinite variety there, sitting meditation, moving meditation visualization. Emptiness focused, spiritual mindfulness, the list goes on, there's many names, I'm sure most of you have heard shunyata tonglen, calm abiding. Yoga Mantra tantric cetera. It's quite overwhelming.

2:52 And hard to figure out where to start and how to do it. So we're going to take a different approach today about meditation, and how to see meditation and understand meditation. And then with that different understanding that different perspective, seeing how we can incorporate it into our daily lives. Not just half an hour here or there, but rather, as a moment-by-moment experience, And mindfulness will be a part of this. And as I mentioned in a previous episode, I personally prefer to use the words intention intentional and intentionality instead of mindfulness.

3:41 This would be small M, mindfulness, capital M mindfulness. This is a concrete practice of meditation, but mindfulness is sort of a generic word. Use these days to encourage people to be in the moment so to speak with whatever they're doing. So instead of that sort of using mindfulness, we're going to use the word intention intentional and intentionality. So how do we reframe re contextualize and understand a new meditation as a practice as something we can do? And as an exercise. The way to do this, I think is to understand that the stereotypical view of meditation is to be sitting on a cushion and to be still and quiet and bringing your mind to a state of calmness and focus.

4:42 And this is something meditators. Do once a day twice a day, maybe they do 5 minutes, maybe they do 15, 20, 30 hours. Certainly, Advanced meditators can sit for hours in quiet. Contemplation. but meditation isn't all about, just being quiet and still Meditation from a larger perspective and looking at it in this different way that we're doing today is about maintaining a level of awareness. And in that awareness maintaining an intention What does that mean?

5:26 Concretely? So in the podcast, we've talked a lot about finding ourselves in situations of conflict or situations of emotional reaction. Whether that's anger, or frustration, or anxiety, and catching ourselves, and taking a step back, taking a deep breath and pulling back from the self, the ego that's in that state. Sort of being the little angel on the shoulder, that's observing rather than being in the middle of it all. And that's what we're going to be talking about today as a state of meditation. Because really, every time you find yourself in a situation of anxiety or conflict or upset and you're able to stop step back. Take a breath and become that little angel on your shoulder. And observe, that's actually meditation. And the more you can do that throughout the course of the day, the more you find yourself in meditation. And so it's not just about sitting, it's about acting and as you'll know, from this podcast, we talk about action all the time that nothing is brought into reality unless we act upon it.

6:47 If we think about it, that's fine. But if we don't act on what we think about nothing happens, If we make a decision or a goal or a concrete objective that we want to act on, but we don't act on it, we keep it in our brains, then it's nothing action creates the reality in which we want to live. And most of our lives were in a reality where we're not necessarily in control because our egos driving everything and our ego. Reacts our ego is tied to our In a to our survival Instinct to our animal base nature. And so this intention to not be that the intention to be the little angel on the shoulder, The Observer, the one who is striving to be authentic authentic, meaning being able to experience the world with Equanimity where there isn't? Yes.

7:53 No like dislike hate love but a steady even Life a steady even way of living in and experiencing life where you are. a force of positivity, not just for yourself, but for all those around you, that's the end result of meditation. That's the goal of meditation. That's peace. Peace of Mind, peace of heart. And it's also peace around you peace in the world. So the meditation were talking about is setting an intention. To use our daily life.

8:41 To meditate or to get better at becoming the Observer rather than the passenger of our ego. We want to be the Observer of our ego and ultimately, the master of our ego, the master of the ego meaning, we get to control how we react, we're in control of our intentions were in control of how we relate to others, rather than just reacting. It's kind of comes down to who's the boss. If the ego is the boss, then we're riding along through life with many ups and downs and anger and upsets and happiness is enjoys, and it's just a roller coaster of emotions.

9:31 And it's just a situation where there is no sense of control or satisfaction. Because we're always being pulled this way and that and so the idea is to become the boss of yourself. So the key mind hacks to make this happen we've discussed before but let's discuss them today from a perspective of a concrete practice of meditation. So when waking up set your intention as soon as you come to Consciousness, as soon as you maybe open your eyes or do that little stretch as you come out of sleep, think to yourself today. Today, I am going to be aware of myself. I am going to be awake to who I am and how I live in the world. You can expand this.

10:36 Today, I'm going to be a cause of happiness for all those around me. But that simple intention. You've already pointed the prow of the ship of your day towards positivity before your mind, can start to think about the stresses in the difficulties and the challenges ahead. You've already said it towards being a cause of happiness for others, for your day. That's the beginning of your meditation for the day, your meditation in action.

11:17 And so, of course, as you get going, as you get up, maybe there's children to get off to school and get ready, maybe there's a spouse to help, get off to work or whatever the case, maybe you'll forget. I'll forget we all forget, we all forget this intention, but the trick is to try and keep coming back to it and the best opportunities for coming back to it. Are the moments when we're feeling stress, irritation anxiety, these little moments happen throughout the day. We're always being bombarded by something, that is sort of disrupting our equilibrium.

12:01 So try to use those moments to bring it back to. I want to be the cause of Happiness to all those around me today. Let's say your child is late. Getting out the door for school and you're hustling them along. You're hustling the long. You're like golly, why can't this kid? Get it together? That moment right there. Step back from that. Get out out of the middle of the feeling step back and say ah, whether or not the kid gets off on time. Actually isn't all that important. What is important is that the kid is happy.

12:41 It's important that the kid is safe and it's important that that child also be a cause of happiness, for others around them. And the best way for that to happen is if you are a cause of happiness, for all others around you, and so, step back from that, and bring yourself back to that meditation. It's like magic because you'll find yourself calm down. You'll find yourself centered. You'll find yourself grounded, in a sense. That's a state of mindfulness, right? And so you carry on let's say you're off to work or you're off to some kind of an appointment and there's traffic too many people on the train. Too many cars going too fast or too slow irritation, hurry up, hurry up, people.

13:27 I've got places to be right there. Boom. Every state of irritation anxiety, upset, frustration. Dissatisfaction becomes an opportunity to bring your mind back to the meditation. That meditation was the intention you set. As soon as you woke up, I want to be a cause of happiness for all those around me today. now, certainly many people have lives that are filled with difficulties and hardships.

14:09 Possibly abuse deprivation. And that makes it hard. To imagine that you could be a cause of happiness for others. When you can't even imagine happiness for yourself. Depression. Is something that brings people down so low that it the depression and the chemical hormonal balance in the brain and the nervous system all combined to create a situation that is hard to get out of the black hole of depression. How hard to see the light?

14:54 These pose particular challenges for people to set their intention to be a cause of happiness for others. So this is the beauty of what I call mind hacks is that you don't have to believe it, you don't have to feel it in your gut. If you just go through the motion, I will be a cause of happiness, for others, with all of my actions of body speech and mind today. Just saying the words. And trying to make an effort. This re paves the brain re paves the neural Pathways this if you can keep it up over time. Over and over and over, even if you don't mean it, even if you don't feel it, you will eventually start to feel it. You will eventually start to mean it. And you will actually become not only a cause of happiness for others, but you'll see a little bit of light, a little bit of happiness in your own life.

16:04 The enemy of happiness. The enemy of peace. Is doing nothing is stasis. Is being overwhelmed Frozen, unable to act. That's why I keep emphasizing that we have to take action even if we're Faking It. Even if we're just mouthing, the words or mindlessly. Reciting a litany in our brains, and our minds, Without taking the action, nothing happens. Nothing changes.

16:49 And so if you set your mind to meditation to becoming a meditator to meditating as a routine and a daily practice, that's an action, that's a first step setting, your intention for that. That's the first step. The next step is to act on that to do it to do something. So that step can be waking up in the morning and saying today. Today I am going to be the cause of happiness for all those around me. That's the next step. If you just get that done once twice, maybe for a week, things are going to start to unravel loosen up and you're going to start to feel it and you'll be able to take the next step.

17:37 And that next step is finding yourself in a state and emotional state where you're not the boss and saying, whoa, wait a minute, I am the boss stepping back, becoming the angel on your shoulder and saying, okay, now I get to reorient myself to my intention, that I will be a cause of happiness. And the day goes on and you get caught up lost in the sea of things going on. But every time you can stop step back, take a breath and say, ahh. I'm going to be a cause of Happiness.

18:17 You've changed the future. You've changed the future because you're no longer a participant or a passenger a victim being pulled along, you've suddenly taken charge and you can set a new Direction in that environment. Acting taking charge of yourself of your mind of your heart of your intention. Controls your reality. And by taking control of your emotional spiritual reality, you change the present for the positive, and you change the future for the positive. And as you get better at this, not only do you find that your emotions are more stable.

19:12 Your day is more full of light than Darkness. Not only do you find these things. But you'll find that the people around you. Are also experiencing more happiness that their their column or they're more friendly. They're more open than more welcoming. Because your state of Happiness translates into kind actions, kindness you become a source of kindness. Because you're happy. Happy people are kind people. Happy people do kind things. The Dominoes start to fall as we override our - mind and our animalistic ego, The Dominoes start to fall and we become, as I've said, this bright light that attracts others to us and that brings them happiness. And their happiness.

20:08 Becomes our happiness becomes a house of mirrors reflecting happiness. Infinitely And as you experience that through this, very simple basic practice of meditation in action. A sense of Joy will well up in your heart and this Joy is like nothing you will have ever experienced before because it is a sustained feeling sense of a of abiding of joy of satisfaction. and while it might not last, the moments that we experience it, Help us to work harder. To set Our intention more frequently, more strongly so that we can build more sustained moments of joy. So meditation a different way of looking at meditation. Setting your intention in the morning. There are many ways many intentions to set in the morning, but the one I've laid out here is being a cause of happiness, for others, and all of your actions, and thoughts and words.

21:22 And then catching yourself using the moments of irritation, anxiety, and upset to, to, to reset that intention to take that step back. I guarantee. that if you do this, For any period of time. Your life will change for the better. The lives of those around. You will also change. So, thank you for listening today. It's been great talking and I look forward to the next episode where we can talk more, please send an e-mail Mike at resonant. Social, share this with your friends and let's continue to work together to create a resonant life uncovering, our own and others, authentic selves, creating a world of peace and happiness, that will defy expectation.