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How to meditate without even trying
I remember when I started trying to meditate. I would sit down, close my eyes, and try to be really calm (my definition of meditation at the time). That was hard: my head would burst with ideas, thoughts, solutions, problems… I would become...
Intentions, Hard Work, and Luck
My son often says, "The harder I work, the luckier I get." Since that phrase popped into my head early this morning, I took it as my inspiration for the week and got to thinking about luck. What is luck? Is it good fortune that comes out of the...
New CDs Help to Relieve Stress and Promote Deep Meditative States Within Minutes
LOVINGSTON, Va., April 13 /Xpress Press/ -- For many people, stress is a fact of life. To alleviate its aggravating symptoms, growing numbers of people are turning to meditation as a way to quiet the mind, replenish the spirit, and allow the body...
Putting Spirit First: Goals For Your Soul
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt. 6:33 If you've ever set very many goals, you've probably had at least one goal that you just can't seem to reach. You can't seem to...
What Is Health?
We are talking about the issue of Health vs. Food and Nutrition. We are exploring what nutrients are and the purpose of molecules. This is the first of several articles on why nutritious food will not only keep you health, but prevent illness.
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ADHD: Pay Attention, Now
Over the past quarter century, the numbers of those diagnosed with ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) has increased dramatically. More sophisticated diagnostic tools and social acceptance of the malady may be a partial explanation. However, a consideration of social changes may be a worthwhile exercise in trying to define reasons for the widespread growth of this condition.
In ancient times, say the 1960s, life at home and work bore little resemblance to our current climate. There had been many early electronic advances and zeal for modernization permeated the workplace where slow computers required hundreds of square feet of office space. The invention of correcting-type tape (we thought we'd died and gone to heaven with that one) and the adoption of electric typewriters was a revolution to the hordes of clerks and secretaries who inhabited thousands of offices, taking dictation by hand and struggling with the vagaries of purple ink ditto and ugly yellow heat-responsive thermograph machines. At home, color spread through the vast wasteland of television and 45 rpm records were replaced by long playing albums and 8 track tapes. We gloated over AM-FM stereo radios in our cars, the music drowning out the clicks of vacuum-powered windshield wipers.
We had absolutely no conception of what was to come.
The advent of cassette tapes put the entire educational industry of shorthand trainers out of business and a coveted skill became virtually worthless. The copy machine reduced the need for grunt office clerks, and receptionists no longer plugged in a web of cables to connect callers. Word processing systems and then personal computers forever changed the routine of typing.
At home, we moved from records to cassettes to CDs to ipods. Television wasn't just in color, it was cable or dish with 100 more channels to share its wasteland. The pong and pac-man games of bars and arcades moved into our living rooms in ever more advanced and sophisticated forms. We dipped our toes into the Internet and overnight learned to surf like a pro. Not only did the telephone lose its dial, it became a copier, then became totally portable and acquired the ability to take instant pictures, receive text messages, and provide games and instant worldwide access.
In the midst of this revolution in electronics, processes, equipment, and communication, was one entity that didn't change: the human mind. The flexibility and untapped potential of our brains allowed us to invent and implement creations that placed demands on us for which we were ill-equipped.
Our brains' hardwiring is virtually unchanged from prehistoric times. Over the centuries, we have learned to cram in more and more information without crashing from the overload. We handle the threat of over-stimulation by filtering the constant sensory bombardment. We acquire habits and routines that allow us to carry out many of our daily activities without having to think about what we're doing. When conscious thought is required, we are most efficient when we attend to one or two things at a time. We concentrate on one area in order to handle the action required competently and immediately. We ignore irrelevant materials floating around us because they are not our current focus.
Traditionally, we have sought out quiet places for our deep thinking. Spiritual leaders have performed their meditations in silence, in caves, cloisters, deserts, and retreats. Libraries, the place for readers and scholars to think, have always born a funereal hush.
Churches and mosques are silent caverns, allowing individual visitors to concentrate on their prayers. High pressure examinations are conducted in total silence. Mental work, such as reading, writing, homework, and studying is performed in a quiet corner or separate room.
Most of those traditions have long gone. At the dawn of the Twenty-first Century, we find ourselves living in an atmosphere of constant noise and imperative, will-not-be-ignored, stimuli. Our children do their homework - trying to absorb more information than prior generations could even imagine - with the television on, the ipod or CD blaring, the cell phone ringing, and the Internet chat room demanding attention.
When they are done with their homework, they play endless video games. From the simple skateboard racing of entranced pre-schoolers to the dark violence of adolescent contests, they spend much of their time immersed in an interactive virtual world that is light years away from the flickering images of the Saturday afternoon westerns we watched with awe, or the few hours of cartoons and sit coms that early television provided.
Motor vehicles are no longer just another means of transportation. They have become electronics on wheels with boom boxes, CD players, subscriber radio networks, and built-in television monitors and DVDs.
Then we wonder at the explosion in ADHD which results in medications for the condition being among the most popular prescriptions issued.
We are surrounded by adults and children who lack the capacity to concentrate on what they read, what they see, and what they hear. When the brain fails to fully attend to new information, it lacks the ability to lay down memory traces and the information quickly fades away. The result is a loss of millions for corporations who have to keep retraining, keep reminding, keep lecturing their employees on data that is required for their job. Customers and contracts are lost because forgotten information leads to poor customer service, death to any business.
Personal lives are diminished for those who can't concentrate long enough to finish tasks they started with such good intentions. Interpersonal relationships suffer due to poor communication skills and the lack of that personal empathy which requires one to intensively focus on another human being to really understand their feelings.
While we continue to dispense the medications that act to filter the stimuli overload, and use psychological modification techniques to mold acceptable social behavior, we also need to look inside our own homes and practice preventive care. Let's limit our children's overexposure to the electronic world they love. Let's model, and reinforce, the human need for quiet time and introspection. Let's encourage reading, thinking, and family discussions instead of using electronic babysitters to allow us the time to get all that unimportant "stuff" done at the expense of our children's future.
Our brains will thank us for it and our children will have received a gift they will treasure throughout their lives.
About the Author
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a monthly ezine, The Worker's Edge, she can be reached at http://drvirginiabola.blogspot.com
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| How to Meditate
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| Explains the basics of meditation, its benefits, and tips on posture and breathing. |
| www.how-to-meditate.org |
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Meditation - Wikipedia
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Describes the purposes, forms, traditions, and effects of meditation, the state of extreme relaxation and concentration, in which the body is generally at rest and ... |
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation
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Learning Meditation
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Features suggested reading, links, meditation room, and more. |
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www.learningmeditation.com
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Meditation Tip of the Day
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Daily wisdom from different sources. |
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www.deeshan.com
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World Wide Online Meditation Center
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Providing instruction on a variety of meditation methods. Also offers meditation tapes. |
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www.meditationcenter.com
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Transcendental Meditation Program
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Features description, scientific validation, publications, learning steps, and Maharishi Vedic University. |
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www.tm.org
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Meditation Handbook
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A student helping student project that includes the purpose of meditation, positions, and methods. |
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home.att.net/~meditation/MeditationHandbook.html
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Meditation
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An article By Dr Tom J. Chalko explaining the process and stressing the need for ... There are quite a few techniques for meditation. ... |
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www.thiaoouba.com/medit.htm
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Wildmind Meditation
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Offers a guide to meditation techniques, relaxation and stress management. Also offers a guided meditation CD. |
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www.wildmind.org
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Meditation, How to Meditate and Channel Awareness Inwards
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Exhaustive study on meditation or dhyana, with information on how to meditate ... The desired purpose of each meditation technique is to channel our awareness ... |
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www.lifepositive.com/meditation.html
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Vipassana Meditation
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Offers links to organizations which offer courses in vipassana meditation in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, as taught by S.N. Goenka. |
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www.dhamma.org
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Meditation.bz
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Offers meditation CDs such as empowerment, past lives, golf, and more. |
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www.meditations.bz
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ACS :: Meditation
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OVERVIEW Meditation is one of several relaxation methods approved by an independent panel, ... Meditation is a mind-body process that uses concentration or ... |
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cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Meditation.asp?sitearea=ETO
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| Christian meditation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| The Bible mentions meditate or meditation twenty times. ... The Voice In The Stillness ? overview of Christian meditation techniques ... |
| en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_meditation |
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| Meditation Station |
| Offers non-denominational courses in meditating. Site includes techniques and concepts. |
| www.meditationsociety.com |
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| Meditation Support |
| Subscribe to "The Daily Meditator" Learn to Meditate. Go Deeper: Meditation Study Plan ... The meditation practices we offer are based on the teachings of ... |
| www.ananda.org/meditation/support/index.html |
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| Arthritis Today: Meditation |
| Arthritis Foundation ... Research shows meditation can help relieve many arthritis symptoms, such as pain, ... studies suggest meditation may balance the ... |
| arthritis.org/resources/.../2001_archives/2001_01_02_meditation.asp |
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| Meditation |
| Four audio mediations. ... Meditations by Sharon Salzberg. Beginner's Meditation ... know where to start—or even if you have—this meditation meets everyone's needs. ... |
| www.oprah.com/rys/omag/rys_omag_200103_meditate.jhtml |
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| A World of Meditation -- Beliefnet.com |
| Today's meditation landscape is so crowded with different practices, you might ... Increasingly, meditation is being practiced by people of all religious, ... |
| www.beliefnet.com/story/145/story_14571_1.html |
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| Meditation Society of Australia |
| A user-friendly site offering free meditation instruction online. ... class 1 - Meditation for beginners. class 2 - The meaning of life ... |
| meditation.org.au |
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