Meditation in white 2 by Greenmonster

There are infinite ways to enter Silence. Success with intentional Silence is accessible to all human beings, with practice.   Silence is the space beyond conscious thought.  It is the space beyond lists, questions, concerns and fears.  It is the space of Infinite Possibility.  When first exploring time in Silence, many of us think we will find some direction, get clarity on an issue or feel safe and supported.  These things can and do occur in Silence but usually meditators have to overcome feelings of discomfort, insufficiency and sometimes even boredom when first entering intentional Silence.  Early experiences with Silence can be filled with self-doubt, fears of what we will find in Silence, and even a sense of unworthiness about communicating with The Great I AM.  Others feel afraid of the unknown or of  dark spirits which may be “out there”.   Additionally, because we come from a culture with a healthy focus on doing and accomplishing things in the outer world, we can feel guilty, disconnected from “real life” and antsy to have something concrete take place in the Silence.  The key is to keep at it, repeat the process over and over again.  It is worth any discomfort, frustration or angst you may encounter in the process.

Om Girl by Distorted Smile

So how can one intentionally enter into Silence and have a positive experience? Begin by asking Divine Source for help in entering Silence in a way that will be good for you.  Call to yourself a positive meditation experience and wait until you get a sense of how to proceed.  In other words, prepare for success.

Or if that is not your style, jump right in one day and see what happens.  You will learn a great deal from that experience of  Silence for yourself.  If you do go this route, you might first consider why you want to enter into Silence.  Then let that all go as you actually begin to enter Silence.  Leave all the thoughts, fears, judgments and uncertainties at the doorway to Silence.  Zip off the roles, the responsibilities, the shoulds, the demands,  the worries and enter as freely as you are able.  “Become as a child, to enter the kingdom of God”.

There are many reasons to enter Silence.  I work with those interested in seeking a deeper, personal relationship with All That Is.  All That Is or Divine Presence is within our own being,  so we end up coming to a deeper knowing of our own True Power, Creativity, and Knowing along the way.  This is the full course menu for entering Silence. There are a number of other menus available as well.  Knowing why you are seeking Silence is a really good place to begin.

Steps I take when entering Silence

1. I prepare for quiet time by turning off the phone, telling family members I am not available and retreating to a place where I will not be disturbed.  I select some material to read and possibly something to listen to, in my space.  I set aside a specific amount of time for being in Silence.

2.  I open the space I am in to the Highest Divine Energy of the Universe.  I invite my Highest Self, Ascended Masters, The Angelic  Host, Divine Nature Spirits, Highest Divine Cosmic Light Beings and any other forms of Divine Light who can help me hold the space of Silence that day.   Alternatively, you can call in the Holy Spirit or Spirit of the Living God.

I do this because my intention is to connect specifically with Divine Energy rather than with all the other energies in Silent space.  I also like the idea of being in the presence of  Evolved Spirits who know how to navigate the Silence.   Their conscious knowing of All That Is  helps me find my own source of Knowing within.  I like the idea of inviting knowledgeable company to join me in this process.

3.  I call for the Divine Presence of the Great I AM to lead me into the experience of  Silence.

4. I can sometimes settle right into a place of stillness and quiet. If this is the case, I sit with my back upright, legs crossed beneath me and breathe in and out, focusing on my breath until I drift into a place beyond thinking.

5.  Sometimes I can’t be still. Then I most frequently read a spiritual passage until I feel settled enough to be still.   If that does not work, I may sing, chant, om,  recite a psalm,  listen to a beautiful piece of music or recite an affirmation to calm my mind.  If that is the sum of my meditation time that day, I have simply connected with All That Is in a different way,  from entering Silence.  We have still connected.

6. In using affirmations, I select one and repeat it over and over again from my heart, until I drift into stillness.   Some of the affirmations I use are:

I AM God’s Beloved Child.

I AM One with All That Is.

I AM lovable and capable.

Upon Me God’s favor rests.

All is well and that’s the truth.

I AM safe and at peace.

I AM God breathed.

7. When I end, I give thanks for the experience, regardless of how my judging self might be seeing the experience I have just had.

Entering Silence is like learning to play the piano. In the beginning, even the simplest learned pieces bring us pleasure.  However in learning the piano pieces, we may have struggles with ourselves over setting aside time, breaking down the piece to learn it,  and mastering it to our satisfaction.  This can be exactly what we face with beginning to meditate.  We are learning something which we do not know how to do.  We are entering into unknown territory, that of Silence.  So, patience and seeking is called for.  However, the greatest counselor of all is the Great I AM, Infinite Knowing and Boundless Love.  If you continue to seek in meditation, in the Silence, all that is needed is provided.  The pathway for each person will be revealed in just perfect ways.  Our part in this is to keep seeking and trying things until we have the success we envision.

If you are trying to meditate, go deeper in your meditation or have slacked off for a while and would like to start again, send along any questions you may have and the responses can be shared on-line for the reading community. If you have a personal suggestion of what is working for you, please share those as well.

Many folks think that meditation is being quiet and breathing in an specified manner. That  could be a good place to begin.   However, if that is all that happens, the point of meditation is lost, not to mention that focused breathing and being quiet gets old rather quickly.  Meditation is setting aside time to be still and listen to that still small voice. That still small voice can come as a voice, as a knowing, as an image, as a vibrational presence, as insight and in other ways as well. In the beginning,  one may well have to mentally move through the “to do list”  for the week, the worry list about kids and money and the memory bites of an argument before arriving at a place of stillness.

Om taken in Mauritius by Adrasteia 9

Meditation is more than being quiet. It is being quiet with the intention of connecting with the I AM energy of All That Is.  It is listening to the Silence for what is revealed.  It is sitting until there is a change in breathing,  energy flow and a sense of wholeness returns to our being.  This may take several months before one is consistently able to enter Silent space with ease and confidence.  It begins with taking that step to try it once and see what happens.

How can I know that what I am doing in meditation is working? If we are getting up from meditation and return to our old ways of operating, we are not getting it.  If we still have the same arguments, get angry over the same issues or feel repeated irritation with ourselves or others, we have not actually meditated.  We have perhaps sat in meditation but we have not actually arrived at a space of newness and balance.  We have not let enough go, consciously connected with Inner Peace or opened to the God energy within.  The God-energy within is there,  for all of us.  God-presence is not outside of ourselves.  It is in the void of seeming nothingness from which all is created.

It is in the Silence that we can most reliably connect with God-energy. We are that energy.  However, if our focus is mostly on what we are doing, how we are doing it, why we are doing it and if anyone will recognize our efforts, we will miss the still small voice.  That voice is where the wisdom is.  That is where our own best knowing is found.  That still small voice is pure love but we must make a space for this in our lives.  As is true for all sorts of practices, the more we do it, the easier it is to enter into the flow of meditation.

What is the real point of meditation?  Why would we step out of our daily routine for something that is seemingly so unproductive?  We have so many things that do require our time, what can meditation actually do for us?

Sky-Diving Over the Ocean 2 by C Ronaldo 7

Meditation is like stepping off the edge of a cliff and free-floating.  That can be scary to some, even overwhelming to others.  ” What if we fall, or find that we can’t get back to “real life” or what if who or what we find inside is not a pretty sight?  What then?  We should probably just let well enough alone. “  Many people leave the exploration of meditation at exactly this place.  This way we can feel we are still in control of every aspect of our lives.  This way there is nothing unconventional that we inadvertently set in motion.  If we stay in control, we will at least know what is happening.

Besides the fact that these perceptions are myths, created by our ego and are therefore untrue, they are also common reactions of the mind when beginning meditation.  That is because fundamentally the mind wants to be in control of our thoughts, feelings and actions.  That is what we call the ego.  We can choose to stay here but the costs mount as we have more and more challenges in our lives.  In order to move beyond anger, judgment, anxiety, depression, grief, jealousy and pride, we have to enter into the Stillness and call forth the power of our God-energy.  That energy  is within us, all powerful, all knowing and always present.  When we enter into Silence we have a chance to get to know that power, the Presence that is inside of us. That is the main reason for meditation.  We open up the pathways to inner knowing, peace and balance.

Final Light Pacific Beach, San Diego, California by moonjazz

To really understand why meditation is advantageous, we need to completely embrace that there  is ONLY one God, one Source, one Power. That Source is constant, true and reliable and it is the ONLY power that is.  All other illusions of power are just that, illusions.  Any other masquerading power we give our energy to may appear powerful and desirable at first, but that lasts only a short while.  The lasting All Power  is within each of us.  Meditation can open our knowing of this power at very deep levels.  However, this inner-knowing, God-power must usually vie for our attention and allegiance.  We are constantly seeking out other possible  sources of power in the form of money, influence, real estate, board shares, work, jewelry, club memberships, cars and education at the “best” schools, to name a few.

Frequently people say to me,  “I just don’t have time for meditation“.  I have to believe that this view comes out of ignorance of what meditation really does for us.  Of all the choices in the world open to us, meditation is the most powerful step we can take to peace, balance, success and wholeness. There is no better way to know the God-presence within each of us.  There are lots of ways to learn about that God-presence but no other way to truly know it.  It must be experienced, not just talked about, mused over, theorized about or debated.  There is no other way to really know the God-presence with which we have been gifted.  All other forms of seeking power, influence, success and control are in the end, fruitless.  “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” (Psalm 127)

Meditation or a meditative state is the only way to hear the still small voice.  Most of the time the voice we hear is our ego voice. “Don’t do that, who do you think you are?   If you try this, you will just end up a loser.  Why do you think you can make a good decision here, most of the things that have happened in your life have been simply random occurrences.   He is really out to get you, watch out. ”

The still small voice is just that, still, small and a voice that is not our usual jabber of the mind.  Wouldn’t you move heaven and earth if you knew there was an all knowing, all powerful, every where present Presence which was inside of you waiting to become more fully actualized? There is.  Why then don’t we seek this with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul as we have been commanded to do for eons and eons ?

I think this is because we really, really don’t think there is just One power, just One Source, just One God.  We may think we are a power unto ourselves.  Look at all we can do, create, get, be, say, build, paint, write, etc.  We may think that God is outside of ourselves, we are here and God is elsewhere.  We may have bought into teachings which  have placed humans and God as co-existing at the same time, sharing power.

These all miss the Truth point.  Everything comes from God-power, the good and the bad as translated through our thoughts, feelings and perceptions of our connectedness to God. All That Is is the only Power, the only God, the only Source of God energy.  All else parades as power and falls short of the mark.  If we enter into meditation with the purpose of listening to the still, small voice we can’t help but be successful, for every step we take we are met with 99 others being illuminated by the God-Presence, within.  When we listen to the still small voice, we can get all the guidance available to us. Take a risk.  Sit in Silence.  Any time there with intention to connect with God-presence will be worth your while.  It is more loving, more powerful and more illuminating that any other experience in the entire world for spiritual living.  As many of you know, spiritual living leads to tangible, specific manifestations in our daily lives.  Or if you don’t know this, try meditating with the goal to develop a personal relationship with Divine Knowing, right within you own being.

• You will learn that you are a deeply wondrous and significant being.
• You will learn that if you want a conscious connection with God, you can have it.
• You will learn that  all the help you need is as close to you as the breath in your nostrils.
• You will learn that aligning with the One True Power in the Universe means you clear out the rubbish and debris keeping you from manifesting a life of peace , balance, wholeness and joy.

Go ahead, dare to risk time in Silence and see what wondrous things are revealed about who you truly are.  The greatest Counselor of all time is available 24-7.