Zen Commuter With Thom Walters: Why I Meditate

Zen Commuter Episode 1499: In order for meditators to build a consistent practice, it's going to be in their best interest to find a solid personal reason for why they practice. In this episode, I share some of my reasons, hoping that some of the reasons will either resonate with listeners or guide them to finding their own motivations.

Transcript

If you're here to be calmer,

Wiser,

And happier,

Then you are in the right place.

This is Zen Commuter.

Good morning travelers and welcome to your morning Zen Commute.

I am your host,

Tom Walters,

And this is Zen Commuter,

Your Monday through Friday meditation podcast aimed at moving you forward peacefully,

Helping you live a calmer,

More satisfying life.

Today,

I thought I'd share with you something that I don't think I've shared with you before,

And if I did,

And it's been a very long time,

And it's pretty much basically the reason I meditate,

Why I meditate.

There are many reasons why I meditate,

Of course,

But today I've narrowed it down to five.

And I think you know me well enough to know that I'm not talking about my meditation practice to be all about me,

But more as a stepping off point so we can talk about your practice.

I want you to see if there are any things that you need a little bit more explanation about in regards to meditation through my example.

So the things I'm going to talk about today,

The five things,

Some of you might be able to identify all five in your practice as well,

Or maybe just a couple.

And whether it's five or just a couple,

That if you need a little bit more clarification that this episode will serve as kind of a bridge to having you zip off an email,

Or if you're a Patreon patron,

Give a call and say,

Hey,

When you talked about blah,

Blah,

Blah,

I think I'm kind of the same way,

But could you expand on that a little bit?

And of course,

I'd be more than happy to do that.

So let me get into those five things right now.

And they aren't hierarchical by any stretch of the imagination.

I just wrote them down as I wrote them down.

One is not more or less important than any of the others.

Number one,

The reason I meditate,

To feel connected.

Depending on the day,

Depending on the meditation,

There might be times when I feel wildly connected to all life.

And not just here on earth,

But I mean all over,

Like universal connection in regards to this planet,

Not just connection to other people,

But all things that are living.

It's my belief that we are indeed connected to all life.

So if that's the case,

Why don't we feel that all the time?

Well,

Because we have heads that are just so full of thoughts about work,

About family,

About life,

About politics,

About everything.

There's just so many distractions,

Mental distractions in our head that we don't feel it.

And sometimes it's not just because there's so many thoughts,

It's just because we haven't trained ourselves to be that open.

And meditation is a perfect way to do that.

So to my point,

When I'm in my meditations,

When I have certain meditations,

And sometimes it happens,

Sometimes it doesn't,

That when I come out of the meditation,

I'm like,

Yeah,

There it is.

There's my feeling.

There's a connection to all life,

Not just here on this planet,

But absolutely everywhere.

I am one small man that is connected to absolutely everything.

And what may seem insignificant is absolutely pivotal and needed,

And all of us are.

And for me,

With my meditation practice,

I never feel lonely because I'm always connected to everything.

And yes,

I may be in a room by myself or I may be just alone without any people around me,

But that doesn't mean I'm lonely.

I'm still connected,

And I always feel that connection because of my meditation practice.

So what's the second reason I love to meditate?

Because I learn more and more about me each time I do.

As I've mentioned on KamaRan5,

So many times we don't really have a full idea of who we are because we've never stopped to feel who we are or what's important to us.

But my meditation practice allows me to do that in the stillness,

In the quiet.

I come to learn what's important to me.

I definitely learn the difference between my higher self and my human self.

And in my meditations,

I can definitely feel the difference in energy between those two entities for want of a better word.

And one of the cool things about meditating and learning more about who I am comes the understanding that I'll never know all about me,

And that's awesome.

That means that I'm changing.

I'm always changing.

And believe it or not,

That's a good thing.

I'm growing.

I'm becoming better.

And depending on the day,

I'm finding new ways to link to my higher self,

To my divinity.

And kind of along the same lines is the third reason I meditate,

And that's to become less reactive.

When we meditate,

We're able to see thoughts as things.

We're able to just see thoughts and not get wrapped up in the emotional story that comes with them or that could come with them.

We broaden that gap between stimulus and response.

When I meditate,

I am responding as opposed to reacting,

Meaning if somebody says something or does something,

I don't just react from a subconscious level,

Not really understanding what I'm doing.

I have a moment,

A second,

A couple seconds to say,

Hmm,

This just happened.

How do I want to respond?

How will I respond?

What is the best way to respond that will bring about the best growth for myself and for the people around me?

A meditation practice gives us that ability to be responsive as opposed to reactive.

And I've certainly let you know that there are times I feel human,

Very human,

And times that I feel my higher self.

In the moments that I haven't meditated first thing in the morning,

Which is rare,

But it does happen,

As the day goes on,

I find myself being more and more reactive,

More human.

And once my meditation is kicked in,

I'm like,

Okay,

There we go,

Cool.

Here's a perfect example.

Our gyms here in Massachusetts,

Well I say Massachusetts,

I live in New Hampshire,

But Massachusetts is very close by,

And so I go to a gym in Massachusetts.

But the gym there in Massachusetts is open,

But you have to have a mask.

At all times,

Nose and mouth covered.

And I totally get it,

And I totally respect that,

Obviously.

But just because I respect it doesn't mean I like it.

The other day was one of those times that I did not get to meditate first thing in the morning.

I got to it later on that night,

Obviously.

But first thing in the morning didn't happen,

So I got to the gym and I had not meditated.

I had my mask on,

And I'm working out,

I'm with my workout partner,

And I'm doing a particularly heavy set of benching.

I get done,

And it was a particularly heavy set,

Just like I said,

And I'm breathing heavy.

And the mask is there,

And it's uncomfortable,

And it's sweating,

And it's getting moist,

And for whatever reason,

I put the weights down,

I stand up,

Make sure there are no people around me,

And I take off my mask,

And I put it in front of my face just to make sure,

But I wanted to get air around my face.

And as you can tell,

Kind of by the way I'm talking,

I was not happy.

Oh,

I hate this mask.

I just want to be able to work out without this stupid thing.

And then I caught myself.

I'm like,

Oh,

That's right.

Somebody did not meditate this morning.

I get it.

Okay,

Yeah.

I know I might not like it,

But it's necessary,

And it is as it is.

You can either get all pissed off and wrapped up in the aggravation,

Or you can just see it as how it is right now.

And obviously,

That's what I did.

But like I said,

Because I didn't meditate that morning,

That humanness crept in.

Instead of feeling that frustration and not being drawn into it,

I just dragged myself right into it.

But when I'm meditating,

I'm less reactive.

The fourth reason is to,

I got to be honest with you,

When I wrote this down,

I put to understand the universe,

And then I had to think about it.

It's not to understand the universe.

It's to experience the universe.

There have been many times when I've had profound meditations that shift the way I see my place in the universe.

And not just my place in the universe,

But just the universe as it is.

And the universe as it is is a huge,

Huge statement.

Because obviously,

If we think about the universe,

Our minds,

Our human brains can't comprehend all that's going on.

But in a meditative state,

We got to leave that humanness aside,

And our consciousness allows us to see things,

Experience things in a broader way.

And as I just mentioned,

Not because we need to understand it through our head,

But experience it through all our being,

Our soul,

Our heart,

Our mind,

Everything.

There have been many times in my meditation,

And because of my meditation,

Outside of my meditation,

That I experienced shifts in time and place.

Because of my meditation,

On some level,

At certain times,

My consciousness has expanded so that I can feel these shifts.

It's important to point out that when I do feel these differences or these shifts,

I obviously,

Well maybe it's not that obvious,

But it needs to be said,

That I have the ability to not feel it as well.

Sometimes it happens in my meditation,

And sometimes it happens outside of my meditation.

Yet whenever it happens,

And I feel it,

I can either decide to stay with it and continue to experience it,

Or return to my human awareness.

Meaning this time,

This place,

And go on with my day.

It depends how I'm feeling.

So that's reason number four.

The last reason I meditate,

Or one of them anyway,

Is to garner wisdom.

This is kind of linked to number two,

And kind of linked to number four,

Meaning understand myself better,

And to experience the universe.

Much like many of us,

There are things that happen in a day that I need a little bit more clarification on.

Why did I react in a certain way?

Why did something happen in a way that I wasn't expecting?

What can I learn from those situations?

And in those cases,

I bring those questions to my meditation.

Sometimes I'll hear from Bart,

Sometimes I'll hear from my mom,

Sometimes I'll hear from somebody totally different.

Whoever it is,

It's a link to my higher self,

And I always get a viewpoint that's a little different,

More expanded.

And sometimes it doesn't even have to do with my humanness,

Just like I said before,

To experience the universe.

Sometimes something will happen,

And I'll bring it to my meditation for that very reason.

Why did I experience that?

Why was I supposed to experience that?

Sometimes I'll get an answer,

Sometimes I won't.

Sometimes the answer will come weeks,

Maybe months later,

Maybe not at all.

And that's okay.

I'm okay with that,

Because there's no expectations.

But whether I do or don't doesn't mean I don't bring it to my meditation nonetheless to see if I can get some clarification.

And one last time,

Not just for my brain,

But for my entire being.

So there you have it,

My five reasons,

Or five of the reasons I meditate.

There are many,

Many,

Many others,

Of course,

As you might expect,

But these kind of stand out.

Maybe some of the things I talked about you experience in your meditation,

And maybe you don't.

Either way is fine,

Obviously.

Your meditation is yours,

Mine is mine.

But if there's anything that you want clarification on,

You know,

Just write me,

Thom at zencommuter.

Com,

Or if you're a Patreon patron,

Just give me a shout out.

You got my number.

One last thing to point out is that some of the things I talked about in today's episode happen very infrequently.

Maybe months go by,

Or months go by between the times that I feel something of the nature that I've talked about in today's episode.

And obviously that's totally cool.

It is as it is.

I never go into a meditation with any expectations.

You know that,

Of course.

So my friends,

You go think about the things I talked about.

You know that I'll be back here tomorrow with another episode of Zen Commuter in the morning and another episode of Comorin 5 in the evening.

But for right now,

This is Tom Walters for Zen Commuter signing off saying,

Make the rest of your day spectacular,

And I will see you on the road.

Reviews

Really interesting concept. I like it and will share. Thank you 🙏🏻