Purposeful Meditation, A Path To Well-Being

What is the purpose of meditation? First, meditating will help you find a sense of center, calmness and self-control. As you meditate, your breathing slows, your blood pressure decreases and you begin feeling calmer and more relaxed. As your practice advances, meditation is used to create a "focused intention" as well. That is, if there is anything in your life you want to be, have or do, you can create an intention, meditate on it and then allow it flow to you.

However, until you have had some experience with meditation, it is often useful to have a meditation tool to help you focus your attention. Many use a candle in low light, or listen to soft music and follow the notes with their mind and imagination. There are many methods you can use to focus your attention, including guided meditation where you follow a voice that guides you deeper into a meditative state of mind.

Another very the most successful way is to have an object that you hold while meditating. Then you carry it with you and since it has been infused with your intention during meditation session, it acts as a reminder of your desired results. A favorite stone, a crystal, beads, a meditation tool or some object that is always close by will work well for this purpose, reminding you with a simple touch of your calm, purposeful intentions and the resulting calmness your meditation brings. Exploring the world of meditation will lead you to a new depth and purpose in your life.

Meditation is a wonderful means of finding peace, joy and happiness in your life. Learning to meditate easily and well is a key to experiencing success in all areas of your life. This feeling of well-being begins by acknowledging that only through acceptance of personal responsibility for your life decisions can you change your life condition. No one can make you happy; no one can hand you peace; and joy is illusive if you can't find it within yourself, through your own efforts.

Remember this important premise: You get in life what you focus on. Therefore, focusing on the miseries of your life will certainly bring you more misery. But when you turn your attention to the joys of life and appreciate what you have and all of your potential, you will receive even more joy. Through practicing good meditation techniques you develop strong, positive focusing skills. As a result you will find yourself focusing on only the positive aspects of your life and avoiding the traps of misery that used to catch your constant attention.

Those who find this approach to life unrealistic will still experience their lives as out of control. So you don’t have to believe it to witness the results of how your attitude affects your life. If your life is filled with stress and turmoil that never seems to end, how about changing your viewpoint? Looking for the good, the balanced and forward-moving aspects in your life can break that cycle. Not every moment in one's life is stellar and lovely, but every moment has in it an aspect of truth, of clarity and a seed of potential for whatever you want to create.

The next time you find yourself suffering from anxiety, look beyond, look ahead and visualize a better now that will become a better future. Realize that you have survived every crisis in your life only to become stronger. At the darkest moment, you sometimes feel hope slipping away. Remember how you made it through every single period of turmoil, wiser and stronger. Treat the successes you've experienced in life as stepping-stones to get you through the next crisis. Focus on someone you love rather than someone who causes you to feel hurt. Or, better yet, find something to appreciate about the one who hurts you. If you look close, you can find that something. Even in the worst of times with the worst of people, it is there.

What is the best way to get out of the rut of reaction and into the healthy pattern of self-determination? Go within rather than continue to allow yourself to be drawn outside into the world of reacting to whatever to the world around you. Learn to relax at will; teach yourself to find an inner calmness with which to identify and connect; and begin to focus your attention where you want rather than let yourself be helplessly drawn to every outside stimulus that wanders into your view. Meditation is a path that gives you back your control.

There are many meditation techniques from which to choose but with the use of guided meditations, meditation tools, supplies and products, it becomes easier to develop the necessary meditative skills to direct your life positively with directed intention.

In short, choose a technique of meditation -- and there are a lot of choices -- that puts you on a path of self-determination to success. You may find yourself experimenting with many different approaches and perhaps a combination of methods that works best for you. But first, you have to begin the process and get on with it.

Good luck! The journey is exciting and enlightening, but more importantly, the destination will bring you the joy you seek.

(c)2007 TAO Consultants, Inc. All rights reserved.