Monday, November 4, 2013

FLOW - Meditation by a River

(When it's my turn to host a meeting of my men's group, I like to offer some kind of calming, centering exercise to help everyone shed the stresses and concerns of the day and be fully present in the here and now. This time, I've been unable to find just what I was looking for...so I wrote my own brief, guided meditation.)


Your life’s wanderings have brought you to a small river. You sit on a large deadfall—oak, perhaps—whose body time has stripped of bark. The dry wood is warmed by late May sun.

Better than silence, the place murmurs with comings and goings of countless living things. You watch life’s drama play out, as if unreeled slowly, frame by frame, by the passing water.

A kingfisher laces the far bank of the river, dipping and rising from one vantage point to the next. The filament of his presence passes from riverine space into that of your soul, seamlessly, and back out again, then slowly out of sight down around the bend.

       You imagine the thoughts and concerns 
       of your day, like these other living things, 
       coming into view.

Just below you, a school of redhorse works the shallows, vacuuming the sandy bottom. You marvel at the interplay between each purposeful individual and the seeming randomness of the group. It, too, swirls slowly past with the current and disappears.

You imagine the thoughts and emotions of your day, like these other living things, coming into view in and over the water. They too fly and swim and pass through, from the unimaginable expanse of the cosmos, into and through the slice of it that is your consciousness, and then back out again to join the eternal flow of life.

You sit there, as aware as one can possibly be of the simple joy of this place of calmness and connection. You glow with gratitude for the fact that your presence, your being, is solid and true, informed, but not defined, by concerns of the mind. You sit…and feel…the smooth, warm wood under your seat.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes indeed... to meditate is to mediate the impact of the mind on the body and its projections upon the environment. Its to get back to that place of feeling without the need to think. One is just available to what Is and what one is immersed in. Interestingly, meditation can also increase one's ability to attract into their lives the knowledge and information that one wishes for or ponders over. Such inspiration comes when the mind isn't obsessively focused upon the same channels that people often put themselves within or where neural pathways are continuously being fired upon. However, to receive something new in any form, those neural pathways have to be relaxed and shut down so that other doors come to one's attention so that they can be opened with new knowledge and experience being activated so that new streams can be navigated whose water provides for a new opportunity to explore the unknown.

Anonymous said...

A wonderful, gentle, calming, experience. It reminds me of my Rain Retreat Meditation: http://tuesdayswithlaurie.com/2012/01/24/rain-retreat-meditation/

Jeffrey Willius said...

Laurie - I love your shower meditation, especially the series of "May I..."s! The one that feels like it needs to take root in me is "May I live with ease." Love it!
As usual, thanks for your encouragement, my friend!

Jeffrey Willius said...

Thanks for the comment, Bern! You see these things with such thoughtfulness, such depth. I appreciate you and your many contributions to mindfulness.

Carol O'Casey said...

Jeffrey, this beautiful meditation carried me away from a cold, wet and dreary day in Oregon. That's the power of nature. Thanks.

Jeffrey Willius said...

Glad I could help, Carol! We're having a stretch of pretty dreary weather here in MN too. I just think of it as typical of November -- not my favorite time of year, but it does have its own wonders.

Unknown said...

Hey,I highly appreciate your writing.I want to share few point with you.Be still, bring attention to the breath, as the attention grows more and more focused, you will literally eventually begin to cut through the camouflage nature of our reality and begin to form an energetic connection with the Heart of Being from which all Existence springs. From it you will receive profound Energy, insight, and realisations. Magnificent and Unspeakably Glorious Love and Infinite Energy will fill you to the brim, and you will begin to realise the sheer Miracle and Glory of what you are.Thank you!!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
kirpal singh

Jeffrey Willius said...

Lina -- Thanks for visiting One Man's Wonder, and for your wonderful testimony about meditation. What is it about this post about a river that stirs you so?

Anonymous said...

I love guided meditation. Perhaps you should record it?

Jeffrey Willius said...

I'm glad you like it! Thanks. Not sure I have the voice for recording my work. Maybe a podcast one day...

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