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Postive Habit #2

Three-Minute Meditation

Meditation has long been a tool of spiritually centered people. It offers a connection to a higher power, and it awakens a calming, harmonizing influence. Contrary to some beliefs, meditation does not take years of practice and discipline to achieve results. Nor does it require long periods of uninterrupted time. The positive habit of a regular meditation session may be more within our reach than many people have thought.

For most, the biggest obstacle is just finding the time to do it. It can be difficult when we are busy to squeeze in yet another activity. Or, even when we have had some success with a regular practice, some crisis or unexpected demand can quickly have us shifting priorities, and suddenly the steady meditation discipline is lost. Or, sometimes the obstacle is merely fatigue. When we are tired from a long day, spiritual practices are sometimes the first thing to be cut out of the evening’s schedule.

The start to a remedy for all these problems is to redefine what we are expecting of ourselves and expecting from the meditation period itself. Perhaps a more modest and simplistic set of expectation will allow us to keep the positive habit going. It is important to make that inward, meditative connection, even if it is just for a short amount of time daily.

If you’re already a regular meditator, or even an occasional one, you know the calming, centering impact of this spiritual discipline. But the idea of very short meditation sessions may push some of your alarm buttons. You might find yourself protesting that there are no shortcuts to inner growth. In a world of fast foods and convenience stores, surely spiritual development won’t succumb to modern impatience, too! Didn’t Edgar Cayce frequently prescribe patience and continually emphasize that it was only by slow, steady effort that one progresses to higher states of consciousness?

Patience is crucial, but the idea of making spiritual connections in as brief a time as three minutes doesn’t necessarily imply shortcuts. The path to enlightenment takes years of dedication, and there are no tricks. However, the idea of condensing your meditation time is based on a basic concept—simply that living in a hectic world doesn’t mean you have to give up your meditation life. Positive effects can be achieved from relatively brief times of focused silence—perhaps much briefer than you would have anticipated.

Cayce’s suggestions to some people about the positive habit of meditation indicate that maybe as little as three minutes is all the investment of time you have to make, at least to keep the momentum going each day. Some day—maybe many days—you might find it possible to have those fifteen- or thirty-minute meditation periods, the timeframe that many people have discovered is necessary to make the deepest kind of inner connection. And if you have already found a way to set aside those more lengthy periods daily for meditation, then you’ll want to keep up that invaluable discipline. These mini-meditations are not meant to replace the more lengthy ones. But for you, an additional three-minute meditation—strategically timed for a moment in your hectic day when you need to disengage from the stress—can work wonders. In fact, one research study done with several hundred meditators—experienced and inexperienced—reached an important conclusion. The researchers discovered that those who got the best results from Cayce’s recommendation for miniature meditation periods were the people who already had going a regular meditation discipline of fifteen to thirty minutes daily. The novice meditators had significant success, too; but not as dramatic as those who were already experienced meditators.

Consider just how reasonable it really is to find those three minutes daily for this crucial recentering habit. Aren’t there frequent instances daily when you waste three minutes or spend that amount of time superficially—reading a mindless article, watching a little more television than is necessary, complaining about how you were mistreated earlier in the day. What happens if you remember that you have an option for how to spend that time and creative energy? As an alternative, you can find a spot to yourself, close your eyes and quiet down, and then make a connection to your more authentic self.

It boils down to developing the habit to take three minutes out of a hectic or confusing day and to refocus on what’s best within you. Maybe that means taking three minutes before breakfast; or perhaps, three minutes in the middle of the afternoon. In fact, it doesn’t even need to be at the same time each day. Find the time that is best for you each day. For some people the tip off that it’s time for such a mini-meditation is when they begin to feel the high stress of what’s going on around them. The need becomes acute for a spiritual refresher. Other people have found that the most can be gained once the day is nearly done and they have had time to unwind.

If you feel ready to give this positive habit a try, don’t become too consumed with the mechanics. For example, don’t become obsessed with whether or not you log precisely three minutes. It may be two or three or four—whatever feels spirit-led that day. The point is to realize that you can make a connection to your spiritual source in a relatively short amount of time. What’s important is that you give it a try and that you attempt to build it into your lifestyle as a positive habit.

THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF MEDITATION

Meditation is listening to the divine within. It is like an oasis of peace in the midst of hectic schedules and worrisome responsibilities. In those few minutes of daily quiet, it’s possible to keep yourself centered and tranquil. You can connect directly with a higher consciousness that lives within you, and that momentary connection can have effects that last all day long.

But anyone who has tried to keep a regular meditation discipline knows that it doesn’t always work quite as well as expected. There are days when you may get up from your meditation session and feel no more peaceful than you did when you sat down. What’s gone wrong on days like that?

The trouble is most likely a misunderstanding about the very purpose of meditation. The fault may lie with our attitude about what we’re trying to accomplish. If you carry into meditation the familiar mind-set of daily living, then the results from your meditation will probably be frustrating. Consider what happens when you try to transplant into your meditation period the competitive, acquisitive approach that usually characterizes modern life. It doesn’t work.

What is it about this familiar approach to life that makes it so ill-suited for meditation? Throughout most of our waking hours we’re striving—even straining—to reach goals and accomplish tasks. We’re attempting to acquire things, such as physical possessions or people’s approval. Often our efforts are tinged with competition as we try to prove ourselves. Simply put, we’re trying to get something.

But what happens if you attempt to carry that approach with you into meditation? For example, what’s bound to occur if you try “to get peace” through meditation the same way you try to earn the boss’s approval at work or complete a trip to the grocery store in less than an hour? It backfires. That straining, acquisitive attitude is the very opposite of authentic meditation. At this point you’ve lost touch with the real purpose of meditation. Without realizing it, your meditation life can turn into an extension of your daily life. It’s a subtle thing, but that’s probably the reason many people go through dry spells in which meditation just doesn’t seem to work for them anymore.

Watch what can happen if “relieving stress” or “acquiring peace” has become the goal of meditation just like all the other goals of material life. You sit down for your quiet time and you already have in mind what you want: peace of mind. It’s now become a commodity, just like a loaf of bread from the store or a larger return on your stock investment. It’s something you want, and now you’re going to use a technique to get it. Concentrating very hard on a series of words or a symbol, you go on the hunt. You’re stalking peace. It’s hiding somewhere in the fortress of your inner mind. And you imagine that the power of your concentration will track it down. Starting off such a meditation period, you feel sure that within a few minutes peace will belong to you. But sad to say, after a while, you’ll find yourself getting up from your meditation spot in frustration or dissatisfaction because you’re no closer to peace.

So, what will work? What’s the right understanding of purpose that can relieve stress and bring peace of mind? The key is simple: giving rather than getting. It’s a matter of surrendering yourself. First surrendering your worries. Being willing to give up your expectations, and not expecting to get anything—not even peace. The whole purpose of this meditation session is to give.

Sitting down for your quiet period—whether it’s to be three minutes or thirty—you choose a symbol or, better yet, a few words that capture the essence of your own highest value in life—what Cayce called a spiritual ideal. When you use a few carefully chosen words for your focal point, Cayce referred to it as an “affirmation.” The role of those words is simply to help you open your feelings to something bigger than yourself. You’re not out to get something; instead, you’re offering yourself to God. “Here I am. I give up … my fears … my worries. I surrender … my agenda … my sense of what’s needed.”

That basic purpose of turning oneself over to the Creator is the heart of genuine meditation. Such a foundation comes before any technique or method. That fundamental sense of what you do as you meditate is beyond a clever maneuver in consciousness. It is simply a heartfelt offering of oneself to something Bigger. It is a gift of yourself to whatever you hold as your spiritual ideal.

And then, remarkably, what comes as a byproduct is the relief of stress and the experience of real peace of mind. What a strange paradox. It’s only when you’re willing to give up the goal of acquiring peace that the gift of peace is presented to you. That is the basic spiritual mystery of meditation.

THE ELEMENTS OF A THREE-MINUTE MEDITATION

Minute #1. These brief periods for spiritual attunement can best be accomplished by dedicating about one minute to each of three distinct phases. The first element is attention to your breathing. Cayce was certainly not the first to recommend the usefulness of the breath for evoking a shift in consciousness. It is an ancient tradition worldwide. Some meditation techniques, for example, use attentiveness to the breath as the central method for focusing the mind.

Probably more than any other bodily function, the breath represents life itself. As you draw each breath into your lungs, you are revitalized. As you exhale the air, you are cleansed. This great rhythm is a symbol in your body of all the cycles of nature. No wonder that so many meditation teachers suggest that by silently focusing on your own breathing you can begin to connect to higher states of consciousness.

One way to get started with this powerful meditation tool is to simply observe your own breath for a minute. You might even count silently each breath for about sixty seconds. For most people this means about ten breath cycles. If you use this approach, don’t worry about manipulating your rate or depth of inhalation. Simply relax and let your body find its own pace. Your goal is to experience the process of breathing as consciously as possible.

A slightly different approach was recommended in the Cayce readings. It was a specific breathing exercise adapted from Yoga technique. It, too, takes about a minute to complete. Cover the left nostril. Inhale through the right and exhale through the mouth. Do this three times. Next, cover the right nostril and breathe in through the left, followed by an exhale through the right nostril only. Repeat this a second and a third time. As you do this one-minute breath exercise, try to let all your thoughts be identifying with your breathing.

Minute #2. The second element of the three-minute meditation is the core of the practice—silent focus upon an affirmation. In meditations of more traditional length, this part would take fifteen, twenty, or more minutes. But in these mini-meditation sessions it will be shortened to just sixty seconds.

An affirmation, which plays a key role in the meditation technique, is a short verbal expression of a spiritual ideal. It could be as brief as one word or as long as a full sentence. Some meditators like to compose their own spiritual phrases, others pick a phrase out of the Bible or a favorite prayer. Pick an affirmation that has personal appeal and meaning in your life. Is there a quality that you especially strive for now in your life, such as patience, joy, or faith? Write down a prayerful phrase or sentence that affirms that quality.

An affirmation is a tool that helps you, the meditator, get in touch with or “attune yourself to” your real spiritual identity. Focusing attention on your affirmation is a method for becoming sensitive to what the Cayce readings call your “individuality self” or “higher self.” An affirmation that is deeply personal to you is one that will evoke positive emotions, insights, and experiences. Say the affirmation silently or aloud once or twice. Then, be receptive. Remember that it’s said that prayer is “talking to God,” while “meditation is listening to the Divine within.” You won’t necessarily hear an audible voice. More likely you’ll receive a feeling or inspiration that reminds you of the truth contained in the words of your affirmation.

Don’t be discouraged if your attention drifts after just ten or fifteen seconds, especially if meditation is new for you. Simply restate your affirmation in your mind and focus your thoughts again. Don’t force your attention on your affirmation; rather, gently guide it.

Minute #3. The Cayce readings recommend that any meditation session, however long or short, should end with prayer for healing. That’s the third phase of the meditation—in this case, just another one-minute period to send blessings to those for whom you have concern and for yourself. Remember that healing prayer doesn’t limit itself to prayer for those who are physically ill. It encompasses emotional, attitudinal, and spiritual issues as well. Send a positive thought or blessing to just a few individuals for whom you may have some concern. If a person hasn’t directly asked you for prayer, it’s best not to visualize some specific changes happening in his or her life. It works best to surround the person mentally with the loving energy that has been awakened from this meditation session.

A STORY FROM THE CAYCE ARCHIVES

Marcus lived in New Bern, North Carolina, with his wife and two-year-old son. He had been to Virginia Beach a few times, and he had visited the Cayce family at their home near the oceanfront. Marcus was interested in having a life reading from Mr. Cayce, but the waiting list was lengthy and he had a considerable delay. In February 1931, as the time for his reading drew nearer, he wrote to Cayce about his expectations.

“I am anxiously looking forward to the time when you will be able to get to my life reading, as it is a matter of vital interest to me. My affairs have reached the point where it is time for me to make some sort of change but I will hold off until I hear from you as I feel that this reading is to be the turning point in my life.”

Marcus was a healthy man overall; but the inevitable stress of his career combined with approaching middle age wore at his health in subtle ways. He wanted to find out how to live a more balanced life, giving his body the attention it needed in order to remain healthy for the long run.

In April of 1931, the appointment date for his reading arrived. Gertrude Cayce presided over the session, as Edgar Cayce offered his wisdom from a deep, unconscious state. First Cayce addressed the minor health concerns that Marcus had expressed. With his clairvoyant insight, Cayce indicated that Marcus’ left eye would improve over time, and that his poor digestion would be improved by drinking a glass of warm water upon waking up each morning.

When he had been preparing questions for this reading months earlier, Marcus knew the tremendous amount of stress he felt each day was his most immediate health problem. He had worded one of his questions for the reading, “How can I overcome the nerve strain I’m under at times?”

The answer from Cayce on this day in April was direct and simple. “By closing the eyes and meditating from within, so that there arises—through that of the nerve system—that necessary elements … that will quiet the whole nerve forces, making for that—as has been given—as the true bread, the true strength of life itself. Quiet, meditation, for a half to a minute, will bring strength—will the body see physically this flowing out to quiet self, whether walking, standing still, or resting. Well, too, that oft when alone meditate in the silence—as the body has done.” (311-4)

This extraordinary recommendation—for quiet meditation lasting perhaps only half a minute or one minute—contained a powerful promise. By developing the positive habit of recentering himself each day with mini-meditation sessions, he could heal this nervous tension disorder.

The reading helped Marcus get his health back on track and gave him personal insights into the mind-body connection. Profoundly impressed with the information Cayce gave him, Marcus wrote to Cayce a few months later:

“As time goes on the original life reading gets clearer and the meaning more apparent to me. I wish everyone who has had a life reading would get it out about every three months and carefully check up on the statements made and the events as they unfold. It is a revelation.”

A MODERN DAY SUCCESS WITH THIS POSITIVE HABIT

Most mornings when Ron headed to work, he felt like he was headed into a war zone. Things were tough at his company, a large telecommunications business with thousands of employees overall and more than seven hundred at the facility where he worked as human resources manager. The company was in flux, having just purchased and merged with another firm, and there was considerable pressure on Ron and his team to effect many personnel changes. Staying centered had become an elusive feature in his life.

If things at home had been a little more stable, it might have been easier for Ron to stay connected to his inner resources. It wasn’t that anything was particularly wrong with his family life, but everything there seemed to be in the midst of change, too. His wife had just started a new job and there were the expected stresses of adapting to a different set of work colleagues and duties. One of their children was just off to college, and both parents felt a continuing obligation to stay in touch with him and be supportive as he learned a new lifestyle away from home. And their thirteen-year-old daughter was showing some normal but occasionally annoying behavior of a new teenager.

After a particularly rough day at work—one that involved breaking the news to five employees that their jobs would soon be phased out—he came home in need of a little refuge and rejuvenation. Driving home he had thought about resources available to him to keep his life on track, especially during this challenging transition time at the office, which was sure to last at least two more months. One option seemed to be a recommitment to daily meditation. It was something he had learned and even practiced regularly when he was in his twenties, but for the last ten years or so he had been very sporadic with the discipline. As he pulled into his driveway that evening, his enthusiasm for the idea of regular meditation had grown to the point that he wanted to have his first session right away.

However, as soon as he walked into house he realized that it wasn’t going to happen soon. His daughter announced that Ron’s boss had called ten minutes earlier and needed a call back as soon as possible. What’s more his daughter needed a ride to a friend’s house in half an hour, and with his wife having to work late at her new job, Ron would have to be the chauffeur.

The interrupted plan repeated the same pattern each day for the rest of the week, and before long Ron realized that he had to come up with a new approach. By a fortunate and serendipitous event, he came across an article about meditation that mentioned the way in which positive benefits could come from even brief periods of focused attention. The idea was a novelty to him because he had always imagined that it took at least thirty minutes to have a meaningful meditation session. But given the demands of his life at the time, this concept of miniature meditation times seemed too good to pass up.

He started the new habit that very day, first with a three-minute meditation just before dinnertime. He wasn’t sure that much came from that initial try, largely because he spent most of the three minutes mentally fighting off self-doubts that he could really do it right. Ron persisted, though. He experimented with different times of day to try his mini-meditation. Mornings on the one hand seemed easiest to get himself centered and focused in a short amount of time. But the very best results came from the time and place that he would have least expected to be successful—right there at his office.

Ron had never considered doing a spiritual practice like meditation in his office. It would be embarrassing if someone walked in on him sitting in his chair with eyes closed and no evidence that he was doing anything productive. What’s more, everything about his office had associations for him that are linked to stresses in his life: His telephone that is constantly ringing with people’s problems, his computer on which he frequently works and reworks salary budgets, stacks of personnel files with employees’ performance appraisals. This was hardly a “sacred space” for him.

Surprisingly, however, he was quickly able to establish a powerful daily habit of three-minute meditations in the early afternoon. He shed his anxiety about someone discovering him in the midst of a meditation period. There was an easy and truthful answer should that situation ever arise. He was taking time for some creative thinking. The feared interruption by another employee never took place, and within a week of regular practice he had discovered a dramatic change in how the rest of his day would unfold.

Of course, there were still the issues and problems that beset any human resources manager of a company in transition. If anything, the difficulties and challenges actually got a little worse soon after he started the positive habit of mini-meditations. The dramatic change for him personally was the ability to stay calm and clearheaded in the midst of it all. Something about those short, meditative moments would reconnect him with the best within himself.

When an employee came into his office with angry, demanding words, Ron found it considerably easier to be tolerant and patient. When his boss required yet another reworking of the budget, Ron felt himself a little more quickly able to accept the task graciously. Of course, there were instances when the stresses got to him, and he became frustrated or discouraged. The three-minute meditations didn’t make him a saint. But something was now different, and that “something” was clearly the result of this new positive habit.

APPLYING THIS POSITIVE HABIT TO YOUR LIFE

If you don’t already have a regular meditation discipline, this is the chance to get a positive habit started with short periods each day. If, on the other hand, you already have a steady pattern of regular meditation sessions, then keep that in place while you add three-minute meditations daily as a supplement.

Try different times of day and different situations to experiment with these mini-meditations. Perhaps early in the morning, if you are somewhat rushed to get out of the house, you could still find time to devote three minutes to this activity. Or, maybe midmorning at work when everyone else is taking a coffee break. Perhaps you’ll get good results by having a short meditation in the very late afternoon before starting to get ready for the evening meal and the remainder of the day. Just play with various possibilities and see what works best for you.

As you practice three-minute meditation sessions, keep in mind that what really counts isn’t quantity but quality. Those few moments, sincerely and enthusiastically approached, can be just as powerful as any more lengthy devotional time. Let yourself experience how, in the timelessness of your soul life, spiritual centering can take place whenever you have a mind and a will for it.