I am a very introspective person. As such, I have made a lot of conscious changes in my life over the past couple of years, and continue to examine myself honestly to see where I can continue to grow and improve, not just in my profession and in my photography, but in my personal life as well.

You see, I am of the belief that stagnation is the death of one’s spirit and soul. I believe that not only is there always room for growth, but in order to grow, you have to know where you are and for me, that is where meditation comes in to play. Now, I’m not speaking of that pseudo-profound fad that is going around with people trying to “silence the mind”. That’s not mediation.

For meditation, and especially mindfulness meditation, is not the throwing of a switch and catapulting yourself anywhere, nor is it entertaining certain thoughts and getting rid of others. Nor is it making your mind blank or willing yourself to be peaceful or relaxed. It is really an inward gesture that inclines the heart and mind (seen as one seamless whole) toward a full-spectrum awareness of the present moment just as it is accepting whatever is happening simply because it is already happening.

Meditation is not about trying to get anywhere else. It is about allowing yourself to be exactly where you are and as you are, and for the world to be exactly as it is in this moment as well. This is not so easy, since there is always something that we can rightly find fault with if we stay inside our thinking. And so there tends to be great resistance on the part of the mind and body to settle into things just as they are, even for a moment. That resistance to what is may be even more compounded, if we are meditating because we hope that by doing so, we can effect change, make things different, improve our own lives, and contribute to improving the lot of the world.

Yes, we all have moments where our thoughts race and we have difficulty focusing. The goal of meditation is not to silence the mind. It is to know thyself and in knowing thyself the mind becomes silent. If anything meditation is about watching the mind, witnessing the mind. As you witness the mind jumping from thoughts and feelings and ideas and visuals and clinging to sounds and smells and sensations. You see this happening, except now you are aware of it and can tame your crazy mind and stop getting caught up in the minds of monstrosity.

The act of witnessing this tames the mind and focuses the mind. Eventually, the mind stops its frequent hopping around all over the place just due to your witnessing it and seeing it directly for what it is doing. Tension is released from the meditator…as the mind stops throwing itself through emotional turmoil.

Then the mind begins to rest, to focus on one thing, for a longer duration. It’s like it begins to concentrate all on its own. Concentration gives the mind res, concentration is active, but the rest comes from not getting caught up and flung around in turmoil by the mind jumping around all over the place which is emotionally taxing. And so this is why concentration enables the mind to rest.

The best thing is to concentrate on something neutral, like breathing. Breathing is not right nor wrong, it’s not hot or cold, it is just something neutral we do all the time and so it does not cause emotional turmoil as long as you let it just happen. When you want to breathe deep, breathe deep…shallow, breathe shallow. As soon as you try and say, hey dude, I want to take deep breaths or I want to hang onto my breaths and hold them, you are causing tension. You are causing turmoil and emotional attachment and not calming. You may be doing your health a favour but you are not meditating.

But focus on breathing which is natural, and once the mind stops jumping all over the place you are left with just breathing and no tension no stress. Once pinpoint focus has been achieved and eventually, if you do it correctly and have mastered meditation and yourself, you will not even focus on breathing. You will end up in a state of being. You will reside in your true unadulterated state. In this state you will be fully rested, you will know thyself as you will be thyself in your true unadulterated form. So as far as meditation goes, awareness is the silence itself, Is spaciousness itself. It is the “present moment” itself.

A Quiet Mind versus a Silent Mind is a key discernment with vast implications. What I realized very clearly is that war with the mind is a battle one can never win. It will go on forever. So training the attention has a usefulness. The temporary quiet is (potentially) fertile grounds for the deeper rooting of awareness. It is also good for improving one’s work when there is less interference from unconscious thinking and feeling. Creativity and spontaneity can also be greatly enhanced.

That’s where I am, in the now. I am learning, I am growing but most importantly, I am in the present and as we all know, tomorrow is not promised to anyone. And yes, with each day that passes I know more and more of myself, my heart, my spirit. I explore and learn each day what speaks to me, inspires me, warms me. It’s about that deeper level, that deeper connection with oneself and with others.