Mindfulness Meditation, Why do it?

In the current chaos we find our world in, more and more people are seeking a more peaceful existence. Or at least to somehow extricate oneself from the external madness, and to dive into a more serene (hopefully) internal world.

Mindfulness meditation is a popular tool for this as it brings the person to the present moment, with conscious breathing and a calm mind.

There are many levels in which to enjoy mindfulness from quietly enjoying a cup of coffee or tea while listening to the birds sing, all the way to sitting on a meditation cushion for 45 minutes, tuned into one’s breathing. Any kind of “stopping to smell the roses” action is helpful in bringing one to the present moment, slowing one’s heart rate down, with conscious deep breathing.

This does take practice and commitment on a regular basis. Taming the monkey mind is one of the most difficult tasks we will have in our lifetime.

Some of us will accept this task, and others may not. Some might forego their practice, citing “too busy, too tired, too much going on, etc.”

All understandable.

However, there are other reasons to commit to a mindfulness practice which benefits not only self but the world at large.

I find Dr. David Hawkins view on meditation and prayer fascinating. He states,“In the interconnected universe, every improvement we make in our private world improves the world at large for EVERYONE…

One individual who lives and vibrates to the energy of optimism and a willingness to be non-judgmental of others will counterbalance the negativity of 90,000 individuals…

One individual who lives and vibrates to the energy of pure love and reverence for all of life will counterbalance the negativity of 750,000 individuals…

One individual who lives and vibrates to the energy of illumination, bliss, and infinite peace will counterbalance the negativity of 10 million individuals…

One individual who lives and vibrates to the energy of grace, pure spirit beyond the body, in a world of complete oneness, will counterbalance the negativity of 70 million individuals…”

Perhaps this is why there is needed only 67,000 or so individuals who have reached grace and pure enlightenment in order for the world to be catapulted into the 1,000 years of peace.

I believe at that juncture, The Hundredth Monkey Phenomena will be engaged and whisk us all into the New Age of Peace. Not heard of it?

Ah, well, in the late 50’s, snow monkeys were being observed by five Japanese primatologists on the island of Koshima. Sweet potatoes were introduced and it was observed that a younger female began washing the potato before eating it. Soon many of her troop were learning this behavior.

In an article written by Ron Amundson, he credits Lyall Watson with baptizing the phenomenon’s name. He relays the experience of the Japanese primatologists, “In the autumn of that year an unspecified number of monkeys on Koshima were washing sweet potatoes in the sea.

Let us say, for argument’s sake, that the number was ninety-nine and that at eleven o’clock on a Tuesday morning, one further convert was added to the fold in the usual way. But the addition of the hundredth monkey apparently carried the number across some sort of threshold, pushing it through a kind of critical mass, because by that evening almost everyone was doing it. Not only that, but the habit seems to have jumped natural barriers and to have appeared spontaneously, like glycerine crystals in sealed laboratory jars, in colonies on other islands and on the mainland in a troop at Takasakiyama.”

Some kind of group consciousness had developed among the monkeys, Watson tells us. It had developed suddenly, as a result of one last monkey’s learning potato washing by conventional means. He continues, “The sudden learning of the rest of the Koshima troop was not attributable to the normal one-monkey-at-a-time methods of previous years. The new phenomenon of group consciousness was responsible not only for the sudden learning on Koshima but for the equally sudden acquisition of the habit by monkeys across the sea.”

Therefore, in essence, when you take the time to be present, to breathe, to be mindful, optimistic and non-judgmental, you are not only contributing to your own health, well being and happiness, but to that of the entire earth’s population. You are supporting the ascension and the shift to the widely prophesied thousand years of peace.

Take time to SMILE, BREATHE and BE!

References

Dr. David Hawkins. “The Eye of the I : From Which Nothing is Hidden”, Veritas Publishing, 2001.

Ron Amundson, THE HUNDREDTH MONKEY PHENOMENON, Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 9, 1985.