Meditate on this

Well, well. This evening I was compelled to not only go back to the Buddhist meditation I attended last week, but sign up for the four-week series. I was ambivalent about the topic -- conflict and anger -- because I have spent a lot of time and energy working on that area of my life. Did I really need more?

HaHa. As it turns out, I do.

The class begins with a guided meditation. Then the instructor talks about a particular topic. As she's talking, I'm arrogantly thinking this is a great review. Then she poses a situation and asks if we find ourselves in these kinds of scenarios. We're sitting next to a person in a movie who is noisily chowing down on popcorn. Our annoyance escalates to the point where we become convinced that person is horrible and that they are ruining the movie experience for us.

Hello! What did I just write in this very forum yesterday? That I have been attracting "distractions" like crazy lately. Our homework is to be more mindful in those recurring moments.

OK.

Transcending

A friend recently laughed when a screaming child in a cafe made our conversation challenging.

"You're manifesting this," he said with a smile.

I knew it was true because it kept happening. Even on a train by myself on Friday, sitting in a near empty car, I was reading when a woman entered at the next stop and sat right in front of me. Within minutes she pulled out her cell phone and began to talk. Did I mention there were a thousand other seats and she chose to sit right in front of me?

At the time I was reading Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth, which is about awakening to a higher consciousness. Couple that with the aforementioned meditation tapes that keep coming my way and I think the message remains loud and clear: Learn how to be still, tune out noise, transcend.

I did that day. I'll take each one as it comes.

Joining the club

Hate to be a follower, but I was too intrigued by Oprah's new book pick to pass it up. I bought Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth today and will begin it on a train ride tomorrow. The subtitle, Awakening To Your Life's Purpose, was probably the most compelling thing of all to the life coach in me.

No brainer.

Knock, knock

OK, I must cop to this. On January 17 I wrote about how people kept giving me meditation CDs completely unsolicited and that I heard The Universe loud and clear.

Well, actually, I didn't. Aside from going to a Buddhist meditation on Monday night, I have not really put aside time to meditate and listen to these CDs.

Why confess now? Because today someone I just met randomly gave me two meditation CDs. Plus, the aforementioned Buddhist meditation I attended came about because I was asked by a friend.

Unbelievable brick to the head, right?

Methinks I should pay attention before I'm rendered unconscious.

The big U

I coached two clients today who are in a supreme state of manifestation. They have stated intentions and cleared space and things are happening, one after another, to bring their goals to fruition.

There goes that Universe, conspiring to make dreams a reality again.

Obvious wisdom

Went to a Buddhist meditation tonight. I was intrigued by what came up for me in that almost two-hour timeframe.

But then, that's the idea, right?

Ego in check

I chose to begin working with the 24th verse of the Tao Te Ching today -- Living Without Excess (http://www.taoteching.org/chapters/24.htm).

What struck me as funny was that I picked it because I thought it would speak to my current penchant for purging my space. Instead, it was a lesson in not bragging, showing off or being self-righteous. Hmmmmmm. Intriguing.

Author Wayne Dyer likens it to the sun, which is in a constant state of giving and doesn't demand anything in return. It is pure.

Be the sun.