The Value Of Meditation

“Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively”.

-Sharon Salzberg

 

Once you acquire an education, no one can take it away from you.  You might end up as a CEO or a derelict but you will still have that Master’s Degree.  The same is true when you have a skill.  After 30+ years at Humana, I am confident that I can manage people here and anywhere else I might end up.  I also know how to meditate.  I have been studying it and practicing it since the 1970’s.  I have done it at work, at home, in the woods, on airplanes, and in monasteries.  Meditation is like going to the gym.  On a day to day basis it may not appear to be doing anything.  Meditation does its work in secret.  Over time it changes you.  Recently, in a situation that would normally upset me and make me want to fight, I remained unusually calm.  That is one of the effects I want meditation to have.  Believe it or not, I am not always as calm as I appear.  I am getting old but there is still a lot of fight in me.  Other times I have used meditation to control pain or relieve minor anxiety.  I still don’t have the personal discipline to meditate as regularly as I should or want.  It is easy to do in the early morning before I leave home for the office.  It’s very difficult for me at the end of an exhausting work day.  I usually fall asleep but one teacher told me that’s OK because that is what I am needing in that moment.  I encourage all of you to take some time throughout your day and simply breathe.  Stop what you are doing, be still for a few minutes, and simply breathe.  It doesn’t take much effort and like physical exercise it will transform you over time.  We all live in a stressful and challenging world.  Breathing helps…