Meditation Definitions Part 1 and a Positive Mindfulness Game

In the next few articles what I intend to do is to outline different definitions of meditation, and then give a practical technique of how it might be done. In general meditation is just a word, its meaning depends (like all other words I suppose) upon the context within which it is presented. So, different schools of spirituality and thought have different ideas about what meditation is about. For myself, I like to use multiple definitions as it broadens my practical ability to apply meditation to my daily life, and thus increase its level of quality, depth and effectiveness. So, without any further ado, here is the first one:

''Meditation means to focus on an object of mind (meaning a mental or inner object) that, when we contemplate it causes our mind to become positive, peaceful and happy.''

This is the definition that I learned when I first joined the Tibetan Buddhist group that I was connected to for many years and that, as a Buddhist monk I would teach to people. It is at once quite specific, telling us that meditation is a form of mental focus that functions to generate and hold positive states of mind, but also quite general, leaving scope for the meditator to choose the particular objects that he or she wises to focus on. During my training in Tibetan Buddhism the foundation of the daily meditation practice that we had were twenty one specific positive or ''virtuous'' feelings and determinations that we would study and train our mind to hold without distractions.

So, working with the above definition, you can if you like take a little inventory of all the things that, when you think about them cause you to become happy, peaceful, energized, appreciative, grateful and so on. All of these things are possible objects of meditation for you. The interesting thing about making such an inventory is that it can cause us to reflect on the things that we currently THINK make us happy, and make us realize that actually, maybe they don't make us a happy as we thought. Conversely, some of the things that are right in front of us all the time have a substantial power to make us happy, but we realize we are not appreciating them, and so this reflection can cause us to re focus on these potential causes of happiness.

What I want to explain now is a mindfulness game that we can play with ourself as a form of meditation. In this exercise the positive object of meditation is not so much one particular object, feeling or affirmation. Rather it is the PROCESS that it invokes that is the object of our meditation and that functions to make our mind peaceful and happy. One of the main benefits of this exercise is that it gradually trains our mind to orientate itself around positive thoughts and feelings, and consciously edit out our negative ones.

STEP 1:
Sit down and either think of or write down three things in your life that you feel positive and happy about. There are infinite possibilities here, here are three that I am going to pull out of my mental hat right now:
1)I enjoyed my Qi Gong class this morning, I was encouraged by the progress that people seemed to be making.
2)Enjoying learning about how to create a website
3)Daughter was happy going to school this morning, no tears!

So there we are, three things.

STEP 2:
Set aside a certain time, say ten minutes. During this time you can choose to sit in meditation, or you might choose to go for a walk, have a bath or any activity where you can maintain a relative state of relaxation and focus.
Once you have settled yourself and the allotted time has begun, your job is simply to keep your mind oriented around three above three topics, and the positive feelings, thoughts and images that are generated in your mind in association with them. Your mind may wonder onto any object that is positively related to the above, but it MAY NOT move onto and object of contemplation that is either unrelated to your three topics, or that is a negative contemplation of them.

So, for example of what I MAY contemplate with regard to my above three topics above are:
- A sense of the positive flow of Qi/light and energy within my body (relating to point one).
- The harmonious sense I get from one of the Artworks that I have placed on my website
- An appreciation of my relationship to my daughter.

Examples of what I may NOT contemplate or get distracted by:
- Recalling something I disliked about one of the Qi Gong class members
- Getting involved in a ''to do list'' for my website
- Worrying about my daughter on any level

So, you get the idea, as long as you are keeping to an aspect of the three topics that is making your mind positive, happy, peaceful, appreciative etc, then you are on the right track. Any negative or worrisome thoughts are not to be followed, as are any thoughts that are simply distractions!
This is a simple meditation or mindfulness form that I would say is a very good for the overall long term health of our consciousness. It leaves plenty of room for us to make the practice ''our own'' and be creative. It enables us to experience first hand how to train in the meditative activity of learning to generate and hold positive and peaceful states of mind for extended periods.

To read the next article in this series of meditation definition articles click HERE.

© Toby Ouvry 2009 Please do not reproduce without permission.