Life is like a meditation
I will say first off that I am not a big meditator. My experience is primarily based on other people leading various types of meditations like; silent meditation, meditation focused on relaxing parts of the body, meditation with gong sounds, and a very powerful experience with a mountain meditation. The majority of my experience is in the meditative quality in nature which calms and relaxes me thoroughly.
Nature as exhibited in water has been a strong positive influence in my life. Living close to the ocean most of my life. I love the sound, smell and look of the ocean. I can look into the waves for hours. The ocean is always the same and in every moment it is different. The color shifts from blue, to green, to gray with flecks of other colors thrown in for spice. The waves can be calm or crash. The continual movement. The ebb and flow as the water laps up on the shore creating a beautiful lace pattern.
Other things in nature that are always the same and different in the moment are clouds, trees, flowers, the flames of a campfire, waterfalls, rivers and birds in flight. They all calm and relax me.
In life I have learned how to be in the present, in the flow of life. I also have experienced the speeded up nature of doing, doing, doing. Don’t slow down, don’t relax and certainly don’t listen to my inner most thoughts and feelings. Get things done. Move on. There is so much more to accomplish.
What I find is that as I go throughout my life I continually am coming back to balance, gratitude, self care, thoughtfulness, kindness etc. I could beat myself up because I am not always in those places or I can see the beauty of coming back to these places much like in meditation that coming back to the breath is all that is desired.
It calms me down and relaxes me to know that I am human and I am being the person I was designed to be. And that in any moment I can come back to my true self. I can be in gratitude, kindness, taking care of myself, listening to my inner voice that leads me along my path.
So, in this moment I too am calmed and relaxed when I bring myself back to my breath and this present moment.