A Simple, Quiet Meditation
John Diamond, M.D.
If there is, if there should be, a purpose in meditation, then, to me, it is the Awareness of Guidance. With this in mind, here is a very simple, quiet meditation:
With your eyes closed, and preferably lying in the Alexander position, count backwards from 20 in a special way: 20 as you breathe in, 19 as you breathe out, and so on. After you've reached 1, just be aware of your breath, in and out. And say to yourself with every breath, “Being Breathed:” “Being” as you breathe in, and “Breathed” as you breathe out. That you are not breathing, but being breathed. By Guidance, by Other Power.
Then, after several such affirmations, just be quiet and observe yourself being breathed. That's all there is to it.
What if thoughts keep coming into my mind? How do I stop them? The thoughts, too, are Guided. And they will come and go, not according to your self-power but to Other Power. Every thought we ever have is from Guidance – including those in meditation, when we are most open to Guidance. This is, in fact, the very reason you have been Guided to meditate.
When do I stop the meditation? Again, when Guided. For it is Guidance that will get you to stand up, as it was Guidance for you to lie down. When should I meditate? And how often? Again, as you are Guided. And what to do after I finish the meditation? (You should ask, What to do after I am Guided to finish?) You will now do whatever you are Guided to.
So now you are becoming Aware that you are always Guided, always unknowingly carrying out your Karmic Plan. And everything we do – every action – in this state of Awareness is Action Meditation. Believing, not that you are doing the act, but that it is being done through you. Not self-power but Other Power.
You are always Guided – whether you are Aware of It, or not. But as one Guide put it to me, “The more you are aware of Guidance, the more mileage you'll get from It.”
So meditate for the mileage – if so Guided.
