STOPPING MEDITATION
A message from Neale Donald Walsch
There are many ways to meditate, and it was a wonderful discovery when I learned this. One of the most powerful forms of meditation for me is what I have called Stopping Meditation. The reason this is so powerful for me is that it can be done anywhere, and it takes very little time. Therefore, it is perfect for busy people "on the go."
Stopping Meditation means just that. It means we stop whatever we are doing for just a moment and pay attention to something about it. We dissect it in that moment, and then look closely at one of its individual pieces.
Stopping Meditation can be used in the midst of a very busy day.
Here is how Stopping Meditation works.
Decide that six times today (and every day) you will stop whatever you are doing for 10 seconds and look closely and intently at one of its component pieces.
Let us say you are washing the dishes. Stop what you are doing for 10 seconds-just STOP in the middle of it-and peer deep inside one aspect of what you are doing. Look, perhaps, at the water. See it splashing on the dishes. See if you can count the drops of water on the dish in your hand. Just count the water drops. I know it is an impossible task, but undertake to do it anyway, just for 10 seconds.
Consider the wonder of the water. Look deeply into it. Peer inside. GO inside, in your Consciousness. See what you experience there, see what you find. Just stop for a tiny moment and appreciate that moment in a singular way.
Okay, now the 10 seconds are up. Now pull yourself out of that highly focused reality and back into the larger space of your experience. Don't get "lost" in it. Blink your eyes rapidly, or snap your finger, and literally snap out of it. Then, notice what you experienced for that brief moment.
Now go on with what you were doing. Yet don't be surprised if it takes on a whole new quality.
What you have done is truly appreciate something. To "appreciate" something is to make it larger, to increase it, as property, for instance, appreciates in value.
When you use Stopping Meditation, you increase the value of your life. And of life itself. It has been my experience that this inevitably returns me to a place of peace.
In order to remind yourself to do this six times a day you may wish to have a little timer with you, or set your watch to beep. Later, as you get used to doing this, your stopping will come automatically to you. You will do this without having to be reminded.
Walking down the street, you will simply stop for a moment and select a portion of what you are seeing and see it again, in a deeper way. You will know what you already know about that, but you will know it in a deeper way. This is called "knowing again," or re-cognizing. The purpose of all of your life is simply this: to know again, to recognize, what is true, and Who You Really Are.
There are a thousand ways to do this. Maybe you catch a reflection of yourself in a store window. Maybe you see a bus going by. Perhaps you spy a dog on the street, or a pebble at your feet. It does not matter what you focus on for those 10 seconds. Just stop for a tiny moment and appreciate that moment in a singular way.
Experience this while making love. Stop what you are doing for 10 seconds, separate the moment into its component parts, select one part of the moment and peer deeply into it. Maybe it is the look in your beloved's eyes. Maybe it is a sensation you are feeling-or creating. Just stop for a tiny moment and appreciate that moment in a singular way.
I have regular times when I do this, and making love is one of them. Standing in the shower is another. Eating food is another. Pick up a pea from the plate, or a kernel of corn. Consider it. Appreciate it. Taste it utterly and completely. Your meal times will never be the same. Your showers will never be the same. Your lovemaking will never be the same. YOU will never be the same.
This is Stopping Meditation. It takes one minute a day. Sixty seconds, in six individual installments. Six moments within which you may produce The Holy Experience.
Today, stop what you are doing. Just STOP. Look deeply into the moment. If nothing else, just close your eyes and focus on the sound of your own breath. Experience the pure energy of life moving into and through your body. Just for that moment, listen to yourself breathe. Watch yourself take deeper breaths. Just listening to yourself makes you want to go deeper into the experience-and so you begin to breath more deeply. It is a wonderful thing, an extraordinary thing. Just STOPPING makes you go deeper. Deeper into your experience, deeper into the mind of God.
~ Neale Donald Walsch
