Posts tagged Sensations
Attempting to Define Reality
Nov 27th
Reality is subjective. What is real for us is not necessarily real for someone else.
We might consider reality to be truth, but the same principle would apply, and our truth is not always going to be the truth of another.
Reality is what we know from our own personal experience. It describes a physical thing we can sense or have sensed, touched, smelt, tasted, heard, seen; but it also describes emotional sensations we have had in our lives such as love, enjoyment, embarrassment, and all those supposedly deadly sins, envy, pride, hate and all the rest.
A well-balanced individual with no hang-ups and no psychological problems will find it relatively easy to describe reality. It is what they know or have known. But for someone who struggles with emotional or psychological disturbance of any kind, there may be more of a problem. For them reality may be the inability to cope. It may be the overpowering sense of worthlessness which they carry – a feeling so intense that it colors the whole of their life, distorting experiences and twisting their reality into a shape no-one else could possibly recognize.
For a new born baby reality is light, hunger, pain and food – little else. That is all there is.
As time passes, and the baby’s brain begins to develop and take some sort of conscious shape, reality becomes more complex, not just with differing senses and experiences, but with inter-relationships between those senses and experiences. Life becomes more complex and reality, for this young individual, begins to expand.
So reality, for each one of us, is the sum total of our life experiences. Where we have been. What we have seen. What we have eaten. etc., etc.
But for some, a major part of reality is what we believe. This aspect of reality is more difficult to describe, as we need to ascribe a sense of being to something never seen, or heard, or touched. Nevertheless, for some, the reality of what they believe can be so strong, so powerful and intense, that it takes an all important place above the physical reality of their lives.
How can this be? Surely reality, by definition, concerns things which are real. How can it possibly include facets of the imagination? Because the imagination is so powerful that sometimes it can persuade us that something we merely think, is in fact, reality.
Of course, those who believe in something would not consider that belief to be a facet of their imagination. For these people it is, in fact, reality. As much as if it was a physical part of their life.
So there are different types of reality, some easier to describe than others. The room we see around us, the trees outside and the birds we hear singing are part of the actual reality of our lives. The sum total of all our experiences. But some of the things we think can also be so strong as to become a part of our reality. The love we feel for someone, and know we receive in return, will be very much a part of the reality of our life, but much more difficult to describe as it is only a sensation.
Explained or not – described or not – our reality is what makes us “us”.
Meditation Help – Quiet the Mind and Enjoy It!
Sep 28th
Meditation helps in several different ways which depend on your intention and reason for meditating. The benefits from meditation can be felt or experienced within just a few days of beginning a meditation practice.
There are three different areas of our lives that meditation helps us improve: Physical, Mental/Emotional, and Spiritual.
Meditation affects the mind by quieting the mental chatter. It is hard to be fully aware of our bodies and environment when we have too much mental chatter, worries, concerns, etc. A quiet mind is a happy mind. It’s a mind at peace. This is what meditation does and contrary to what most people think it is not about going blank and thinking nothing. The mind being clear is more about actually feeling what you are experiencing and being aware of it.
There are many different tips and techniques you can utilize such as using a candle in order to focus on the flame or using meditation guided audios or even just soft pleasant music.
It’s about paying attention to one thing, instead of having a million thoughts flowing through your mind. Even if you feel like you do not succeed at quieting the mind, if you are taking time to pay attention to one thing, you are receiving a significant benefit from your meditation. Your mind is slowing down. Believing anyone can go from having hundreds of thoughts in a minute to having absolutely no thoughts, immediately is ridiculous.
So the idea is to slow your thoughts, and eventually become clear and focused. You can sit and concentrate on how your breath feels to enter and exit your body. Do not try to change your breath just feel how it feels as you breathe. Pay attention, can you feel your lungs expand? How does air feel going into your nose? How does your body feel? Focusing on these things start making you pay attention to feeling your body or experiencing the sensations in your body, which means your mind is not thinking as much or having as many thoughts. Even if you have a few, you are having significantly less!!! This is exactly the purpose of meditation or I should say the reason people meditate.
This is what leads to other benefits. Such as the physical benefits, your body starts relaxing, your muscles relax, your blood pressure lowers, your immune system gets a boost. Emotionally you become more come, and then anxiety and stress are lessened. When your mind is going a millions miles an hour it is almost impossible to hear anything else other than the constant bombardment of our own thoughts, Meditations helps Spiritually as well because your mind is quieter you have more space to connect to whatever higher power you believe in. But remember all of these benefits are all because you are slowing down the mind.
Slowing the mind can be done enjoyably. Actually it is most beneficial when you enjoy the process. Meditation helps with hundreds of symptoms and can provide more benefit than you can imagine. Try different mediation techniques. Hopefully this has helped you see that meditation is not just sitting quietly with your eyes closed.
ANYTHING that slows your mind and quiets the mind is meditation. You can even walk and focus on every little movement in your body. That is meditation. There are thousands of techniques to use in order to meditate. Have FUN with it.
