faq: do I need to meditate?

Short answer: yes, but do it your own way!

Long answer: meditation is stillness of the mind.

When do we need still points?

When we need to change (direction; mood) or when we need to create something new, original, innovative.

How do we find our still points?

The easiest, natural way is to come a full completion of the current “doings”, both physically and mentally. When your tasks and ongoing thought processes are complete, finished, then you can recognize that sense of “done” and, rather than running into a next thing, give yourself space-time to pause.

What happens in the pause, in the still point?

We gather potential energy. There is silence in the mind, an immersion in the present everything, a fullness that is equally emptiness.

Sometimes we come into what we expect to be a place of stillness, only to realize that there is something still bubbling within, a background process that we did not recognize was running all along. These could be conveniently “forgotten” problems or tasks; sometimes they are emotions that needed expression or connections waiting to be made.

These background processes have their own inertia and need attention for completion. Know if you need to watch, process, or act/express.

Processing is a skill— fit could be that you need to organize the invisible within you. Breathwork, a long walk, shower, free-associating writing time, artistic expression, all help, as does really organizing the things that you live with (closets, cabinets, etc).

When the raw materials of your mind, your creative resources, are sorted, and the tasks that needed doing are done, then you have a natural inner quiet. If it’s night, you sleep, and you will sleep well: a deep, dark sleep undisturbed by dreams, which are often unprocessed emotions.

If you are feeling quiet in the day, then that is the time to nourish and replenish yourself with what inspires you. Study, read, refill the contents of your mind, with intention, with attention to the purpose of your life-time.

Fundamentally, this is the process of unplug to replug; the disconnection that allows a truer, deeper connection. A healthy mind needs these steps, which are well suited to the solitude that is now normalized with our work-at-home lives. And if you can do this within your relationships— lovers, friends, family— then you are truly blessed.