Chapter 1: What is meditation as reflection?
Welcome back. Today we're going to look at meditation as reflection. In our world today that's so fast-paced, it can often be difficult to get time to actually reflect on our own life. Without reflection, it's very difficult to learn, to distill wisdom from our experiences.
Instead, we're just following a flow of events and maybe find ourselves repeating patterns of behavior over and over without getting a chance to look at whether they're useful, whether they work, or whether we need to let them go.
Chapter 2: How can reflection help us learn from our experiences?
The meditative space can be a wonderful mirror held up to our life. As we enter into calmness and stillness, we can begin to discern maybe what's needed, what's useful, what perhaps needs to be jettisoned or let go of.
In our practice today, as we move a little further into centering and becoming still, we'll take a moment to cast our mind back over the day so far and do so with a meditative lens that will allow us to maybe begin to distill a little wisdom from the events of the day so far. Traditionally, this was known as an examination of conscience.
Chapter 3: What does it mean to notice without judgment?
But it's not just a moral exercise. It's an exercise of awareness. It allows us to see what we need to change and maybe to bring that change about. So let's begin. Once again, we make our ritual gesture.
Chapter 4: How do our daily encounters shape our inner responses?
We settle ourselves to sit down. We take a moment to stabilize our posture. We choose to be here. And we begin. Settling the feet upon the floor. Allowing the spine to lengthen, straighten and relax. The shoulders hanging from the neck. The head with a gentle tuck towards the chest. No compression or pressure in the body anywhere. Drawing our attention to the breath as it moves within the body.
Feeling that ebb and flow, rise and fall. Checking in with ourselves with that simple, gentle, powerful question, how am I? And whatever the answer is, the answer is. Even if as you begin the practice your answer is, I don't want to be here, that's an okay and honest answer. We don't judge the answers in any way.
Chapter 5: What questions should we ask to discern wisdom from our day?
We simply notice them. And then drawing our attention back to the breath. Allowing the breath to be the key and the stairway that draws us slowly down deeper and deeper into the fullness of peace. Breathing out, we breathe out all tension, all stress.
Breathing in, we breathe in peace, calm, stability, and quiet. Breathing in, we are aware of that little point that exists within the breath cycle where the in-breath becomes the out-breath, where the out-breath becomes the in-breath.
And resting at that point in this meditation, we gently bring our mind to the very first moment of our waking into consciousness this morning. It may have been recent or it may have been many hours ago. But gently draw your mind back to that moment. How did you wake? Were you dragged into consciousness by an alarm or somebody else waking you?
Or did you wake feeling rested, solid, happy to begin the new day? Again, you are just noticing, you are not judging. and gently begin to trace the actions and activities of the day from that point on. Try and be as detailed as possible.
Chapter 6: How can we let go of memories to create space for peace?
How did you get up? How did you stretch? How did you enter the bathroom for your morning ablutions? How did you brush your teeth or comb your hair? Did you shower or bathe? How did you dress? Were there other people around for you to interact with? And if there were, what was the tenor of those interactions? Positive? Negative? A mixture of both?
Check in with what media you have received today already, news or entertainment. Again, you are simply noticing and not judging. You can notice, however, how the people or the content, the media, the entertainment, how it made you feel. Did it interest and energize?
Chapter 7: What is the significance of gratitude in reflection?
Or did it anesthetize or lead maybe to sadness or a lack of energy? Again, you're just noticing responses, not judging. Still anchored in the breath here in this present moment of your meditation, breathing in and breathing out, let the day unfold before your mind's eye. What did you eat? What did you drink? How did the morning or the day so far ago?
Notice for yourself what particular interactions or moments your mind settles on. the things that made an impression today so far. But also try and peer a little more deeply into the minor things, how you walked, how you sat, the work you did, the strangers you passed by, the journeys you made, the seemingly meaningless encounters of an ordinary day.
And keep going until you arrive at the point where you enter into this meditation, formally sitting, beginning, and hearing the bell. What was it like to recover your day? Did your mind immediately want to judge to moral judgments of what was right or wrong? What should have been? what could have been. In meditation, we accept reality as it is. The day you had is the day you had.
We accept it without moral judgment one way or another, so as to discern wisdom from the day. Allowing our meditation space now to be a mirror. What would happen if you reviewed the day with this question? What was useful? What was beautiful? What was loving? What happened within the day that I can be thankful for? What happened within the day that I can learn from?
Using these reflection questions can be very useful and can allow us to enter into real change without entering into negative self-judgment that only blocks the energy of change. However your day was, your day was. And once past, the only use it has is the usefulness of allowing you to discern wisdom for the future.
You can use this meditative pattern to reflect on any one experience or to look back generally on any day. For now, let those memories fade and perhaps make the intention to jot down for yourself a few of the insights that have arisen for you today. What was useful? What was beautiful? What was loving? What is there to be thankful for? What do I need to put down and let go of?
Gently then return to the awareness of the breath.
Be aware of your feet against the floor. Begin to bring a little movement into your body, perhaps stretching or bending.
Take a deep breath in, a deep breath out, and allow the sound of the bell to draw you back to the activities of the day. Thank you.
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