“Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
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It’s only right that my first offering of a Dig In Download is a song by Cher.
Dude. It’s Cher. An actual, you really kinda can’t dispute it legend. She and Sonny were “I Got You Babe”ing in 1965 when Cher was still a teenager. She has gone on to record 25+ albums and is the only person in history to have won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, a number of Golden Globe Awards and a Cannes Film Festival Award (among others) for her work in film, music and television. She has ruled the stages of Vegas for years. She is beloved by women, men and drag queens alike and, oh yeah, she starred in one of my Top Ten Favorite Celebrity Playing Themself Moments Ever in a TV Sitcom.
Don’t judge. You have weird lists too.
EEe-eef I could turn back tao_ohm! TAO_OHM.
Sigh. A punk can dream.
Anyway. In 2010, Cher starred in the movie Burlesque with Christina Aguilera. ”You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me” feels great for those times when you need to remind the world that nobody but YOU knows what you have inside of you.
Might even be good enought to remind you what you have inside you. Take a listen on the iTunes and see for yourself.
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The human mind goes non-stop. Prattling away. Positive thoughts. Negative thoughts. Shopping lists. Worries. Dreams. General ramblings. The Buddhists refer to this state as “the monkey mind,” jumping always from thought to thought to thought to thought, and as you may know, that constant barrage of thinking can wear you down terribly.
Practicing meditation provides many benefits to the human mind, body and spirit. For one, it teaches us to simply watch our thoughts and let them go by. Truly, our thoughts are just that … thoughts. They are not the laws of our life. So to train ourselves to simply watch our thoughts come and go like ocean waves is of great benefit as we become more at ease with the natural chatter. Meditation also gives our nervous system a break from the endless chatter in our brains that can stress us out so severely. Many studies have shown that even the addition of moderate periods of meditation to our daily lives can lower our levels of cortisol (think of this as our ‘stress hormone’), decrease high blood pressure, drop our cholesterol levels and improve air flow to the lungs.
More on meditation in later posts.
If you are already interested in adding meditation to your daily routine, it doesn’t have to mean an hour a day. To begin, it is as easy as SO HUM!
The So Hum meditation requires only 17 minutes per day (108 rounds). SO HUM can be loosely translated as “I am that” and is a mantra that gives the beginner something to focus on while they get used to breathing in and out and sitting still for any length of time. “The Soham mantra has been called the universal mantra because of the fact that its vibration is already a part of the breath, and everybody breathes. Sooooo… is the sound of inhalation, and Hummmm… is the sound of exhalation.”
Be gentle with yourself when you first start to meditate. Be prepared for the fact that your chatter will distract you; just bring yourself gentle back to the So (breathing in) and the Hum (breathing out). Our breath is an important part of the process of calming our bodies and minds. Breathe slowly and smoothly. There should be no pause, jerkiness or irregularities between your breaths. Inhales naturally transition to exhales. Don’t focus so rigidly on your breathing that it becomes robotic. The breath itself should be quiet and the mantra should be repeated in your mind only.
Sit comfortably, cross-legged on the floor. If you must, feel free to sit in a comfortable chair in order to get started. Some people do need more back support. Place palms lightly onto the tops of your legs/knees. Once in position on your meditation has begun, do not move if at all possible. At time goes by and you become more adept at meditation, sitting for 15 or more will become no problem. (Be patient!)
For further support and focus as you work to add a meditation practice to your daily routine, please feel free to click HERE and use the online audio track while you train yourself to meditate.
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Being human is such a messy business, and of all the pains in the world, growing pains are often the most painful of all.
There is such beauty in the fact that, in every moment, life offers you the opportunity to be more … to make the conscious choice to grow. In the end, it is what some people call “taking the high road.”
Because really, when you think about it, what has your need to be right, or angry, or justified ever gotten you? A period of some sort of suffering no doubt, often based in regret for your snap reaction to any given situation.
At your next opportunity, choose instead to sit with whatever it is that is happening to you and decide that the experience is FOR you and not against you. Perhaps a loved one has died, a coworker has angered you, your children or spouse are on your last good nerve. Instead of putting forth your first reaction to what life is offering to you, choose consciously to become MORE from the experience. Choose to be more loving, more compassionate, more kind, more forgiving …
And let it sit until it takes hold and becomes part of you.
Never stop becoming more.
B*Punk
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