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Meditation is the practice of forgetting self.

What does that mean to forget self?  Most of us take ourselves to be our stories.  How we grew up, what we aspire to be, and how we see ourselves compared to others. 

So meditation is the practice of noticing these stories and letting them go.  

The only thing any spiritual teacher can tell you is that you are not what or who you take yourself to be.

Some instruction on letting go: 

http://www.robertflegal.com/allison/

Let go and come home.

Peace on you.

 PREFERENCES CLOUD REALITY

Meditation is the practice of standing free of preferences

The Great Way is not difficult

for those who have no preferences.

When love and hate are both absent

everything becomes clear and undisguised.

Make the smallest distinction, however

and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

If you wish to see the truth

then hold no opinions for or against anything.

To set up what you like against what you dislike

is the disease of the mind.

When the deep meaning of things is not understood

the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

by Hsin-hsin Ming

 MEDITATION

Meditation is the practice of giving up expectations.

Is it not expectations that cause anxiety and stress?  Expectations are serenity killers!

When thoughts arise, during the meditation practice period,  just  notice them [without judgement], then give them over to God by saying something like:

"YOU ALONE I TRUST - THANK YOU"

Empty yourself utterly, and you will come to see that you need do nothing to solve a problem that you do not have.

Peace on you

WHAT IS SANITY?

In the various recovery programs like AA, the second step states "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.".  The goal therefore is sanity with God's help.

What is sanity?  Sanity  is coming to realize that:

Nothing is mine.

I control nothing.

Everything passes.  

In virtually every spiritual discipline arriving at this state is called 'Enlightenment'.  

Living with both feet planted in this truth is beyond words.

Peace on you.

 AN EMPTY CHAIR IS WITHOUT BURDEN

Given that we are not our stories - that almost all of them are wrong, the question arises: "How can we free ourselves from these crazy stories?".

Silent meditation is a powerful way. In Silence our stories appear as thoughts - they are always just right there.  We can let them go!

 Try this simple technique while sitting in Silence: 

1.  Notice the next thought that arises,
2.  treat all thoughts the same -  just use the mantra "NOT TRUE",

3.  repeat 1 and 2.

We all have a tendency to hang on to the 'positive' thoughts and drop the 'negative' ones.  This is a mistake.

The way to get rid of the 'bad' thoughts is to give up the 'good' ones.  Trying to keep the 'good' ones makes the 'bad' ones real.   

For more detail check out:

www.robertflegal.com/peace

Peace be upon you.

 STORIES

We are not the stories we tell ourselves.  Almost all of them are wrong! 

When we sit in Silent meditation stories/thoughts about ourselves of all manner arise.  They come and  disappear like clouds in a vast sky.  In time we come to see the impermanence in them.   

Who sees that they are impermanent?

Seek that one!

Then, as Thich Nhat Hanh says:

"we don't suffer anymore."

Peace be upon you.

God's Mercy and Compassion 

Every chapter in the Quran, all one hundred and fourteen of them except one, begins with the statement that God is Entirely Merciful and God is Entirely Compassionate.  Mercy is God's essential nature and it is with Compassion that He acts it out. 

Muslims pray five times each day at specified times in the spirit of remaining mindful of God and His Mercy.

I have been doing this for quite some time. It has had a profound effect on the peace I feel in my heart. 

Peace be upon you!