How can we deepen our meditation? In this week’s reading, pages 137–144 of Climbing the Blue Mountain,* Easwaran helps us via two main approaches. “To begin with, understanding how meditation works can help a good deal in understanding all the little ways in which it can be improved.” So in the first half of the reading he uses numerous metaphors to help us understand the process of stilling the mind.
The second half is full of practical suggestions for our meditation period itself. Easwaran ends this section by assuring us that these simply suggestions “are so important that if they are followed scrupulously, to the letter, you cannot help making steady progress.” May we take little steps towards depth together this week.
What is Easwaran telling you about the workings of your own mind? This week, use this new understanding to get some cooperation from your mind when it is being uncooperative. Tell us how it goes!
We have been making a second pass through our Putting Others First exercises and looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation. Here’s our challenge this week:
When you are feeling negative, tired, bored, sad, or anxious, try this easy fix-it. Do something for someone else. For instance, make some soup to share with a neighbor; do an errand for your partner; play a board game with the kids; call a lonely friend. Notice for yourself how quickly your own state of mind changes. Tell us how it goes!
For our spiritual bonus this week, let’s enjoy the first half of this video, ending at timepoint 8:30. Of course you are welcome to continue and watch the second half as well, but note that we’ll be using it for our treat next week. In the video, Easwaran reminds us about all the opportunities our desires offer for gaining a firmer, fitter will. He also discusses practical ways we can make great strides towards realizing our true Self within.
* For those using electronic versions of Climbing the Blue Mountain with different page numbering: this week’s reading is the first half of the chapter “Deepening Meditation,” ending with “…making steady progress.”