“Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.” -Buddha

I have fallen out of practice. It happens so quickly that I didn’t even notice that I have not found the time to meditate for days. The schedule has shifted and the morning starts too early so that my standing early morning meditation has been lost. At first I would say, I will do it later. Then I just stopped thinking of doing it. I have felt off center for days and today while talking about losing my center, I realized how long it had been since I practiced being quiet.

Peter McWilliams reminds me, “Some people think that meditation takes time away from physical accomplishment. Taken to extremes, of course, that’s true. Most people, however, find that meditation creates more time than it takes.” The time I give up from sleep or work to meditate slows time down. I wake more refreshed, I work with more clarity. I feel the center long enough to navigate through a day.

My meditation practice has grown to be the foundation of my positivity quest. It has been the single practice in all these days that has shown me as gently as anything could where I am shutting down or closing myself to what is. It is the moment of seeing that my mind is not controlling or directing. It is the place where I have learned to listen. It is this place that has given space to a voice that loves me especially in the moments that I can’t. Jeremy Taylor wrote:”Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit.”

I am glad to know what is missing now and happy to begin again.