As I was driving home, I realized what had happened. If I had sat down for five minutes and meditated, and allowed my mind to clear, I would have checked the documents in the glove compartment. And even if I did make a wrong turn returning home, I would have been able to watch my middle-aged brain at work and be amused, not irritated. I didn’t save any time at all — in fact, I wasted time — by not meditating.
I was upset and yelled at myself for being middle-aged and so forgetful. I had told myself before I left the house, “check the documents in the glove compartment before you leave.”
I had to turn around and go back home, and try again another day. I read a sign wrong, and headed west instead of east. I had to go around again… two loops around to head home.
When I got to within a few blocks of the inspection station, I remembered to check the documents in the glove compartment. I needed current proof of insurance, current registration, and my driver’s license. The registration wasn’t current.
I brought books to read and projects to work on, and my shaver. I realized later that while I waited for the inspection station to open at 8 I had planned to do many things to keep my mind busy; I hadn’t planned to use the time to meditate.
I got up earlier than usual this morning. I had to get to the DMV inspection station before 8, so I could finish with the inspection and get to work on time. I felt like I had to hurry, so I didn’t shave, didn’t pack a proper breakfast, and didn’t meditate.
A friend of mine told me what he has found, after practicing Sahaja Meditation for several years.
He said he has noticed what happens when he worries about doing something absolutely perfectly. He worries. He gets upset. He’s troubled. But he has learned, through the meditation, to just do it, and not worry about whether it will be perfect or not.
A friend of mine came over, and we meditated together. It didn’t take long to feel that my friend was entering a state of meditation. It was very enjoyable. After a few minutes, I asked him what was happening inside his head. He said, “My thoughts are still in my head, but they have stopped chasing me.”
In meditation, I know things to be true, without analysis, discussion or doubt. These things are, for some reason, always “good things” — welcome insights and new understandings that, when acted upon, make me a more compassionate and forgiving person.
In meditation, I get inspired. My ideas expand beyond the daily demands of my job and housework. My attention spreads out to include the world, instead of staying narrowly focused on myself and my own, personal ego needs or frustrations (such as trying to break bad habits — staying up too late, reading too much, putting off physical jobs like raking leaves or pulling weeds).
Inspired, I stop writing emails and pick up the telephone and talk directly to old friends — friends who live nearby or thousands of miles away.