There is no conclusion – for there to be a conclusion, this would have to be the end and it’s not over till the fat lady sings!
This book is all about an adventure of ongoing discovery, where you can take what you’ve uncovered and continue with your explorations into the art of living. Remember to revisit the meditations in this guide again and again to see if the things you find change during your practice.
BEGIN AGAIN: if you find yourself slipping into unhealthy patterns and discontent, you can pick up where you left off at any time. Meditation is not at all precious; it’s always happily waiting for you, always ready to invite you in. Start with an Easy Breath. Close your eyes and you are back …
BEGIN AFRESH: your meditation will likely change over time; different things will happen during it and the areas you are interested in will change too. This is natural, so you don’t have to be hard on yourself or expect things to be a certain way.
KEEPING YOUR PRACTICE GOING: you might find that regular meditation practice keeps your garden from becoming overgrown – assuaging feelings of fear, stress and otherwise getting lost in the world.
Research suggests that mindfulness training brings a great deal of positive change to the structure of the brain. However, some of those changes do not persist in the absence of regular mindfulness meditation, so it’s a good idea to create your own daily practice.
Set aside fifteen minutes a day for your meditation-related activities: put it in the diary. If you feel like you’ve only got a few minutes of formal meditation in you, be open to using the rest of the time for one of the other meditations in this guide, such as walking in nature or cooking a meal with presence.
Make a meditation friend so that you can encourage each another, or join a local group of like-minded people.
Keep a space at home, complete with a pillow and a comfy outfit at the ready, so that it feels more circumstantially convenient to meditate each day.
Keep your practice open, without too many expectations: it’s ok if you miss a day or if your meditations don’t seem to be doing anything. A bit like being bitten by the love bug, wonderful things are often whirring away at an unseen level just waiting to surprise you pleasantly.
Don’t try to do too much or force it. Yes, the benefits of meditation are clear and, yes, you may remember how good it feels when you do it. Yes, it can also require a little discipline. That said, sitting there struggling, or driving yourself mad trying to meditate for ten whole, eternal minutes, is probably not helpful.
One should never, so I’m told, become a slave to one’s programme. If, for instance, you have time off of an evening and you think you really should meditate … but what you really want to do is play your guitar, then do that instead. That joy – that happiness that comes from the guitar – is a lovely meditation of itself.
But do be sure to do some meditation all the same; just like exercise, it only works if you do it!
After a period of formal practice, you may find that presence of mind or feeling in the moment begin to happen spontaneously during your everyday activities. For example, you’re midway through making a coffee when you realise you’re on autopilot and not paying attention at all. In that instant you are aware of yourself again and you can choose to proceed with attention and care.
Every so often, the urge to meditate will solicit you. Oh yes it will! You’ll just be going about your day and all of a sudden you’ll feel this bubbling desire to go and sit quietly. These invitations from meditation are pure magic. Like getting a telegram from the Queen. I have found these to be some of the best times to meditate, so cherish those moments.
TIP: Read the poem ‘Pax’ by D. H. Lawrence.
As the saying goes, before enlightenment drink red, carry Prada; after enlightenment, drink red, carry Prada.
If you enjoyed fashion, art, sport or red wine before learning how to practise twenty-four-hour mindfulness, then you may well still appreciate these things after. It is not the things we do that are deemed spiritual or mindful, but the attitude we take to them.
There are certain things that point us more readily to happiness, peace and beauty – and in time we find in ourselves a natural, spontaneous urge towards them. There’s no pre-judgement about the things you’ll be saying hello to or waving goodbye on your way ahead. There are no rules of thumb, you see. Sometimes people think that once you become mindful you have to start wearing bamboo socks, stop drinking wine and start using that eco-friendly washing powder. But, you know, it’s just not true.
For sure, as you become increasingly sensitive to life you also get a deepening sense of being at one with everything else. You sense that you share something of a common ground with all other beings. When this is apparent, you may well find yourself moving towards a diet that is kind to the animals, or a home-laundry system that doesn’t pollute the environment, or a clothing arrangement that feels good.
Or maybe not …
None of the practices in this book are the path to presence in and of themselves. We must remain willing and open-minded enough to explore each mindful activity that takes our interest on this path – because we never know what they will bring. Far better to keep our options open!
With this is mind, follow your own interests and enthusiasms, because these usually have a good route figured out for you. You can make all kinds of trips, have experiences, take jobs and meet exciting people out there in the word, but remember you have infinite worlds within you to explore. Blogs and workshops alike can’t take the place of loving, candid self-exploration. Where’s your inner Taj Mahal? Your personal Paris?
One thing I can tell you: if you follow the practices in these pages, slowly but surely your interest in material life will arise more and more out of joy, love and celebration. You will become more you, with fewer preconceptions about what form that should take or how your personality will unfold. If you are typically quite stiff upper lip, perhaps it will change, but maybe not.
This is freedom.
The freedom to be you.
TIP: Read ‘Ithaka’ by C. P. Cavafy.