Thoughts on Meditaion from "My Stroke of Insight"

Whew.... time flies by so quickly! We returned home from a wonderful week away and geared right up to get ready for school, plus I had to work the last four days of August in my shop. I love the shop, but there is always catch up after being away for any length of time! Took over a week just to unpack my suitcase. But life is good, that these are my problems. I am thankful.

Been squeezing in some great reading! Just finished "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor... an amazing story of a brain scientist who witnessed her own brain shutting down as she had a stroke in her late 30's. The story was one thing, very interesting and inspiring, plus there was an education on the working of our brains. But the spiritual message of the story was clearly profound.

Meditation comes hard to me... the formal, sit down, quiet the mind, and become One. My mind is always chattering away, thinking about the day, inspiring about the future. Jill talks about the separation of the right and left brain functions:

My left hemisphere is preoccupied with details and runs my life on a tight schedule.

my right hemisphere is all about right here, right now. It bounces around with unbridled enthusiasm and does not have a care in the world.

So, there is this duality of thinking and staying organized, and the reality of bliss and joy from not containing thoughts, just being. Somehow, picturing the two separate functions, separate sides of my brain, creates another dynamic. My peaceful state of mind does not have to come up through all the chaos of my thoughts, my thoughts just need to be gently set aside. I've always pictured the mind as a giant ice burg, the surface being our conscious life and then below the surface our thoughts, and below that our deepest connection to the Unified Field of Divine Love, God. So, when I sit in mediation, it takes great effort to allow that quiet state to penetrate upward through the mess of thinking.

I think that by beginning meditation time with right-brain thoughts, art, music, nature, and just allowing myself to set aside organization, duties, "shoulds" etc, it will open the delectable door to deeper connections.

She also said:
“our minds are highly sophisticated “seek and ye shall find” instruments. We are designed to focus in on whatever we are looking for. If I seek red in the world then I will find it everywhere.

So, with the right (brain) preparation, right (brain) thinking, and right (brain) FOCUS, I can allow myself to slip more gently into deeper states of consciousness.

And, I'll finish this post with one more of Jill's thoughts:
The first thing I do to experience my inner peace is to remember that I am part of a greater structure – an eternal flow of energy and molecules from which I cannot be separated. Knowing that I am part of the cosmic flow makes me feel innately safe and experience my life as heaven on earth.

I am so thankful for the insights! Thank you Mother, Father, God, Divine Light.

PS I welcome any comments about your experience with meditation.