Meditations - Practicing everyday mindfulness
Understanding Meditations
Meditations are rooted in the Philosophy of Stoicism. There are 12 books in Meditations written by Marcus Aurelius which focuses on how to improve one's self and persevere in the hardest of personal responsibilities and duty by doing acts virtuously.
The etymology of Meditations, Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν, a Greek word, which means "things to one's self" or "in himself". This primarily means that to focus within and remain within - soul.
Stoicism is focused on the chronicles of Marcus Aurelius, and it's simply a way for him to be mindful, focused, and disciplined to his duty as a young roman emperor. This brings a question, what is Stoicism? It's a school of thought or Philosophy that flourished during the Hellenistic period in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. To be a stoic is to have a steadfast and unmoving good spirit that follows a life of virtue.
A life of virtue is avoiding carnal pleasures, earthly desires, and practicing everyday life with wisdom, courage, temperance, and moderation. To put it simply, we can perform self-reflection - to look within our own souls, to find our faults, imperfections, mistakes, and sins afterwhich it is our responsibility to correct them. Most importantly, following God and keeping His commandments, trusting in Him, basking in His Holiness through His Son - Jesus Christ, and doing honest work with virtue as if we are working for the Lord in His vineyard.
The Word of the Lord is always eternal and everlasting. The fear of the Lord brings humility, wisdom, courage, and self-control. The love of the Lord is to deny oneself - to carry one's own Cross and crucify our sins with Him who has saved us. The love of the Lord is to faithfully abide by His ways and Commandments, and to know that His love is always greater than everything around us. It is Him who helps us to get through and resist temptations.
Practicing Mindfulness
Breathing is very simple - inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. This technique although one is unaware of it everyday as it has become an autonomous function of the human physiology, is in fact, the best practice of mindfulness meditation.
Mindfulness meditation is a practice of self-awareness where one is fully aware of how they are feeling - sensory, mental, phyical, emotional, and spiritual. To be mindful is to be aware of the conscious and unconscious selves one can do so through the means of creative and visual imagination using the mind, and by doing this we begin to shed ourselves of ego, pride, and boastfulness as one becomes aware that they are in fact, flawed beings full of misinterpretation. So, how do we correct our own self-misunderstandings? It's simple just do self-reflection, but one must be careful of engaging the mind as we can be carried away with ruminating thoughts, partial feelings, delusions, and intrusive imaginations. So, to engage this in manner in a healthy way, we must choose the thoughts in our head that is healthy for us.
Achieving a calm state of mind
Engaging ourselves in a relaxed state can be very challenging and difficult for some as we can be very engaged with day-to-day mental stresses from our works, studies, responsibilites, and chores. But, a simple breathing exercise can help.
There is another meditative practice by Buddhist monks which is to focus on the tip of the nose and only think about breathing.
Try to inhale, then pause hold for a few seconds, and exhale through your nostrils.
Dealing with noisy head
Sometimes the mind can create distractions and delusions due to intrusive thoughts. One must be very careful of how they engage in these as it can bring harm to body and soul.
A simple mantra like, no thoughts. head empty, where you can repeat multiple times can help. Just stop thinking. Focus on your breathing. Let go and feel your body and soul.
Managing emotions and partial feelings
Being carried away by emotions alone can sometimes lead to cloud judgment hence, it's very important to keep partial feelings under control. Sometimes emotions can blind us due to unfulfilled desires, unrighteous passions, and negligence. To control and master our own emotions is to master the heart and soul along with the rational faculty of our entire being - the mind.
So, don't be swayed by partial feelings alone look into what's sound and logical. Understand that sometimes emotions can be both a saving grace and a blight. It's important to choose the latter.
Crying is very healthy! Sometimes we need to let ourselves breakdown so, we can build ourselves back up!
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