Solar Eclipse
“No pressure, no diamonds.”
Thomas Carlyle 1795-1881
I always thought that teaching meditation evolved naturally out of my private practice in transpersonal psychology. In order for a client to shift their perspective on their particular issue (rather than just seek more advice), I would invite them into a meditative state of consciousness so they could experience their situation in a whole and new light. From that glow, their vulnerability would lead to truth, and that new perspective would yield their answers. Their ah-ha’s were clear, sweet, and abundant.
But it seems that teaching meditation didn’t just evolve out of my private practice. It actually evolved out of my life. Instead of seeing the limited version of meditation - the ancient, sacred art that required years of commitment and discipline - I saw meditation, and I knew meditation, as a way of answering a natural call of the wild, with its mysterious gifts laced throughout many of my life’s experiences. To me, there were meditative moments in my life that offered the riches of insights, the comprehension of life, and the soulful experience of wholeness. It became increasingly evident to me that meditation was a natural state of perspective and experience that we can all access and own. That it was this delicious and powerful life force energy that was practical and pliable and oh-so-possible. That natural, modern meditation was not passive gazing or mind-numbing, but rather the wisdom tool of choice for those who want to create a real partnership with their soul, with the universe, with their life, with love.
The monthly columns I have written over these past fifteen years continue to be a brief accumulation of those years, that process, and those results. My desire would be that they have been inspiring, educating and entertaining, but that’s a subjective stance and therefore will be completely up to you. A regular column reader once emailed me to say: “I wasn’t sure if I was suppose to read this column or meditate with it, for there were passages in it that lulled me into that meditative zone.” The combo platter is always a good choice.
My writings are not how-to directions on meditation. There are many noble books out there giving that level of instruction. No, my columns are more "how-come" writings. How come we’re not aware that life and meditation actually live hand in hand, and not miles – worlds - apart? How come we don’t answer that call of the wild - that call of our very essence? How come life and meditation haven’t reconciled their supposed differences and learnt to live blissfully together?
Because they can, of course.
Even when life can feel hard. When it can present itself as so difficult for us that we feel trapped. So challenging and full of hardship, that it feels insurmountable - as though the sun were fully eclipsed, and we’re unsure if we will ever see the light again. But just when we feel we have no choice, diamonds are created. The lump of coal has shown us its glistening best, and things will never be quite the same, again.
Physical, emotional, and mental adversities are kindred cousins. They affect each other simply because they are related. When the nature of adversity is perceived by either of these, we elicit our typical fight or flight automatic reactions. But there is a third response. Somewhere between fight-or-flight modes, we find the most honourable choice of surrendering. Not surrendering as an act of weakness, of giving up, or of passivity. Surrendering as the respectable act of ending the struggle. Trusting and allowing. Letting go, in the truest sense of the phrase.
And in the act of surrendering, a new perspective is attained.
Jonni's writings have appeared in The Common Ground, The Good Life in Vancouver, First Lines, The Intuitive Connections Network, The Good Life Connoisseur, Planning For Profit, Burnaby Now and other local and national publications.
