My Satori

Satori - one's first glimpse of enlightenment

Let's jump back into my eight year old mind and I will share my experience.

One day I was just thinking about who-knows-what and it suddenly hit me out of  nowhere,  "Have I ever not been thinking? Could I stop if I wanted to? " Being eight I didn't contemplate it too much, I just gave it a shot.

I had a few moments with fleeting thoughts and then it happened - a few brief seconds of no-thought. It was a feeling of depth that I can only describe as great peace; as though my soul had a second to breathe. 

As quickly as this state came over my mind it was rushed out by my mind's sudden realization, "Oh my god I did it, and it was so easy, and that felt so cool, I wasn't even sure it was possible, woohoo!"   

I became angry. I felt my mind had stolen this wonderful experience from me. 

Read that last sentence one more time. (How many of me are in my head?)

This experience forever changed my perspective on the human mind. Occasionally I would attempt to go back to that place of no-thought, but I was never truly able to clear my mind. As time went on it became more difficult. I haven't by any means spent my whole life trying to figure out what I experienced in this moment of my childhood, but it has always remained in my consciousness on some level. I believe this was the beginning of my path to enlightenment.

Enlightenment is simply defined as the end of suffering. Do you have an aversion to the word itself? If so think about this - a word is just a symbol for an idea, something much deeper. Avert the word and you forever miss the beautiful universal experience it points to. I believe we are each on our own path to enlightenment with Life handing you every experience you need to reach beyond the illusion of our world of form.

I reconnected with that feeling of no-thought when I was about 22. I found it in my first yoga class. It was the first time I realized that what I had experienced as a child so briefly, yet so quickly and intensely, was a meditative state. That was two years ago. I have since practiced many types of meditation and yoga and have achieved all sorts of thoughtless states. I also do my best to practice mindfulness in everything I do. I keep a close eye on my thoughts and know never to take them too seriously.  This practice has changed my quality of life.

You want peace? Here is my recipe -

1. Become aware of your thoughts.
2. Pay attention to your thoughts, are they helping or hindering?
3. Whenever you have the opportunity, become still, watch your body breathe

That's pretty much it. Do it for a while and be amazed at the space that starts to appear between thoughts.

If you think this is crazy or impossible your thoughts are winning. Give it a shot.

Marci
~With love

P.S. I am sharing the inner workings of my mind with the hopes that you may share yours. Please comment, good or bad I want to know what you think! One of my goals here is to connect with people on a deeper level so help me out ya'll!