This talk is a short reflection on two important concepts that I have come to appreciate more so through the art of meditation.
These two concepts are connection and awareness.
They may seem straightforward but I really wanted to take the time to reflect and share with you what I have learned through conducting sessions in my workplace and also sessions in my community.
Meditation means a lot to me.
It is a core part of my toolkit in well-being.
I understand that meditation is not the solution to all of your problems but it can be so pivotal in teaching you some wonderful skills.
So if we start with the first concept,
Awareness,
You may think awareness,
That's easy,
That's straightforward,
Of course I've got awareness.
But awareness and practicing awareness through meditation is an ever-unfolding journey.
It's not an end destination.
Awareness relates to tuning in to oneself in a deeper sense.
An awareness that allows you to be more in tune with feelings and thoughts that arise in your body as you go about your everyday life.
Awareness is critical in understanding how we react and how we perceive certain situations in our day-to-day life.
And engaging with awareness in a brave sense,
In a true sense,
In meditation takes courage but it is a journey well worth taking.
Awareness through meditation has really allowed me to know myself,
To know myself better than I ever have,
To be able to recognize familiar feelings,
Thought patterns and loops,
Physical reactions in my body and to be able to pause when they come up rather than push them away,
Takes true practice and persistence and courage.
But when you begin to step into that space on a regular basis,
It allows you to be able to make a more informed decision in any given circumstance,
To be able to consider before reacting.
Reacting can be so automatic.
It can come from a long-standing experience,
A learned behavior.
In many instances it can stem from something you've learnt or experienced in childhood and many run from that,
Many shy away from that.
But it can be so rewarding in the long run to meet this and face this in meditation.
For example,
For me personally,
Having learnt as a child that making mistakes is something that is a trigger for me,
That attaches to a bit of shame,
That starts a thought loop in my body,
Often without me thinking,
That leads to a physical reaction in my body.
My tummy starts to tighten,
My breath quickens and I feel my body temperature rise.
And from that,
The thought loops combined with this physical reaction,
The stories,
The thought loop that I constantly tell myself when I'm faced with making a mistake,
Really leaves an awful feeling unless I catch it.
I catch it and I pause and I remember that in meditation I've explored this thought loop and I'm able to engage my senses as I do in meditation,
To be present in the moment and slow down that flight-or-fight response.
And that is a true gift.
So I encourage you to persist with meditation,
To deepen your awareness of self.
The other concept is connection.
And again that might seem obvious,
But connection is also so important to well-being.
As we've mentioned,
Awareness of self is connected to your well-being when you go on that journey.
Your experience of life is different and that can only benefit your overall well-being.
Same can be said for connection,
Because as humans,
Whether we like it or not,
We are hardwired for connection.
Meditation gives us a deeper connection with self,
But also when it is practiced alongside others,
It gives us another appreciation of connection,
That human connection.
We experience being safe in a meditation sense,
We feel seen,
We feel supported,
We feel held and we feel on a similar wavelength.
Now everyone's experience of meditation is different,
That is true,
But knowing that you are sharing an experience of meditation alongside others has a real powerful force of connection in my experience.
And what you learn from that,
What you bring to your everyday life,
What I found at least,
Is that it drives you to seek out meaningful connection in other ways in your everyday life.
Not just on the meditation cushion,
So to speak,
But it also shows you how connection in a human sense with others can be so enriching in our lives.
And I know particularly recently,
The efforts I've made for connection,
For example with my children,
With my work colleagues,
Have all been driven by my experience of connection through sharing meditation in a group.
And it really does,
For want of a better description,
Feel warm and fuzzy inside,
In that heart center,
Connecting and feeling supported by others who get you.
And of course connection is not going to be with every single person you encounter,
But it can be amazing when you are connecting with people that feel like they're on the same wavelength and share that same energy.
And so I encourage you to find the circumstances where that connection is rich and rewarding and full of depth.
Start on the meditation cushion,
Experience meditation in a group as well as on your own,
And then reflect on how connection can flow through to other parts of your day-to-day life.
Because I believe that together,
Connection and awareness,
As learnings that I've taken away from my meditation practice,
Have really been beneficial to my life.
And it has been a pleasure to share these insights with you today,
As something to take forward and reflect on.
Thank you.
