Adam Lobon's blog

Keep your baggage to yourself.

At Birmingham airport they have an announcement which advises you to ‘keep your baggage to yourself”.

It made me laugh when I heard the ladies voice blaring through Wetherspoons where we were enjoying a quick bite before boarding our flight.

We carry mental baggage and one problem is that there can be confusion about what we do with it!

There are many schools of thought.  One is to not keep it to yourself - express it and share it with those around you - “get it off you chest” and you will feel much better for it...

Does it really help to get it off our chest - the English tend to be very bad at it anyway and prefer to keep the stiff upper lip...old boy.

The other school of thought is to keep it to yourself (for many reasons).  This can be confusing and can lead to a suppression of baggage which can manifest as poor health physically leading to stomach disorders and stress.

Often those who are following a prescribed spiritual path can fall into this category. My time living in Buddhist centre gave me open exposure to this. Practitioners training there minds on the outside - keeping their delusion to themselves not venting them but not actually doing anything with them either. I witnessed in my time, monks exploding smashing windows after coming out of prayer.


Generally in religious organizations there are cover ups - there is such aspiration for high development but not a corresponding progression to that state, so the way to keep it going to onlookers is to ‘cover up’.

If we can train in meditation correctly then we can transform unwanted negativity within through simple meditation practices.  

One of the most famous and effective is where we sit and breath out all our negativity and frustration in the aspect of dark smoke far into the distance and breath in pure, clear light - simple but very effective if we want to keep our baggage to ourself; without combusting!

Bringing it all back home...a few meditation tips

One of the tricky things about meditation training is that it requires effort.
This can be off putting and hamper any progress!  
In our world of immediate gratification, at the touch of a button - it can seem hard. The effort we need to apply isn’t the strain that you see on the faces of people lifting weights in the gym - they are training their bodies (an external phenomena).  In meditation we are training our minds (an internal phenomena).  

Effort can often seem like strain and as a result if we put too much of the wrong effort into our meditation then it can hamper any potential good results. We need to apply a gently but determined effort when in meditation. At the time when we are focusing on a particular object, if we are too tight with our concentration then we crack it and if we are too loose then it slips away.  This is often why people refer to meditation as an art.  To get the balance of mind.  To bring the mind back home to where the heart is. When the mind is in balance there is harmony within.

If we practice meditation correctly we can get the feeling that we have returned home - we have found a place that we can dwell, shelter and take refuge in, away from the madness of the distracted world. We discover this home through a determined effort to focus and place the mind on its chosen object. When we meditate we need to enter into the session with a chosen object to focus on - otherwise we end up just drifting.  Which may be relaxing to some degree but won’t actually engage and train the mind. 

Lets take for example a neutral introductory object of meditation like the breath. When we engage in meditation on the breath we need to be on the look out for the mind becoming distracted away from concentrating on this process.  Which it will do - not just in the early days of meditating but years down the line!  The mind will want to focus on distractions that are not the breath.  So we need to be alert in meditation on the look out as and when the mind becomes distracted.  When it becomes distracted to bring the attention back to the breath and again and again and again.We try to keep engaging in this process with gentle effort. This is the beginning of ‘training the mind’ in meditation. 

Meditation practice is a training and to achieve good results requires us to bring the mind back to its chosen object. If we are engaging in a meditation that lasts say twenty minutes we may become distracted one hundred times.  This doesn’t meant that the meditation is not working.  It’s working if we keep bringing the mind back ‘home’ to its object. 

If we practice like this we will start to see a difference in our meditation and life.

How to stop it from getting your goat!

 

"It" being stress.

Stress can stem from annoyance.

Annoyance arises from too little space in the mind.

Here are few domestic scenarios (we are not talking world wars in this post btw) that could bring it on. Followed by different negative and positive responses.  

The positive responses show how a little mind space created in meditation can help you through your day/life!  Enjoy.....

1) You just forced me to put on my brakes the way you just pulled out in front of me....

+ Let it bounce off your mind and focus on your next goal (meditation strengthens the mind to allow this to happen).

- Curse at the driver and get bitter and twisted about other motorists.

2) The Politicians just nick all our money.

+ Look further than media headlines and see how you can personally create change in your locality (proactive response use your mental power to make a difference).

- Believe the media and feel trapped by what's happening outside. 

3) Stuck in a traffic jam on the way to work which means you are going to be late.

+ Take a breather - literally and focus on your breath letting go of any stress.

- Start fidgeting, chewing, frowning and clench the steering wheel visualizing the next espresso.

4) Your partner tells you that you have put on weight.

+ Check to see if you have and then start exercising!

- Visualize punching them in the face and feel hard-done-by.

5) Organized an event and only a few people turned up.

+ Visualize ten times more attending and go forward to the marketing strategy.

- Tell yourself you're a failure and give up. 

6) The next door neighbor son has just started playing the drums.

+ Go around and speak to the parents and voice your concerns (this can dissolve issues in a moment).

- Sit and feel miserable about it and complain to other neighbors (a lot of stress comes from not being open and allowing tension to build).

If you are a list maker - make your own circumstances that get your goat. It sometimes takes effort to change the view, but its possible.

Watching the tide roll away...

As Otis sang - we can watch the tide of our mind roll away in meditation and as it does all the stress, worry and anxiety disappear into the distance! There are many different styles of meditation, some in theory help to relax the mind, some initiate determinations. They can create a stress in the mind! We can feel that the meditation isn’t going well, or we judge to strongly the effectiveness of the practice thus creating tension. 

One of the main benefits of meditation practice is that it can address the running commentary within the mind - if we approach it with the right attitude, if not it can create more!! One meditation practice that is very effective for stopping the noise within is to sit and watch the play of the mind, without comment or dialogue - I’ll discuss how to do this practice in the next post.

Time is of the essence

Its of incredible value - as Kipling stated:

"If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,"

TIme is an illusive concept and it can seem in short commodity at times

“I would love to but I have not time for it“ is often something that is stated about meditation practice. Its funny because meditation practice actually creates time in our life.

When the mind is pacified and controlled through meditation then we create an opening within to see that time is relative and actually exists within our imagination. If we are concentrated then we can accomplish more in a half a day than in a whole week or even month.

Bust my Stress Please!!

Sorry only you can do that!

Through learning to train in Meditation you will be able to not only manage stress but bust it from your mind. Over the next four weeks I am going to be writing articles about Stress Busting.

Taking a good long look at where stress comes from and how we can bust it from our mind - continually and constantly.  

There is a lot of talk about Stress Management and Anger Management - its often very politically correct and I feel doesn't get to the crux of the issue and therefore is not effective, just beating around the bush.

I'm going to be introducing methods and discussing how we can really take stress of our body and mind.

There will also be live workshops, videos, classes and seminars taking place - I hope you can benefit!

The Clegg Effect

These past two weeks in the world of UK media and politics we seen a great frenzy of activity and excitement surrounding the growing phenomena of Nick Clegg - who up until last week was unknown in most households. 

The energy that has surrounded his popularity is one that is hungry for change - it has very little to do with the person, the party or the policies - it goes deeper.  

Here is a person who seems as though he can change things from the old way which we are tired of, ney sick of!  Of course he can't, only we can do that.

Its too easy to put our trust or criticism on the shoulders of politicians its a very limited and materialistic view

What has more long lasting effects and is more powerful is changing our states of mind - replacing those old attitudes that corrupt our happiness and well being.  No politician has the power to do this for us - only we can accomplish this, through looking within our mind and making decisions for change.

If you want to really vote for change - tick the box of meditation, empower yourself and realize that you control your world, not politicians.

The Clegg effect is revealing just how hungry we are for change and improvement - for that to take place we have to look within.

NHS Hospital Visit - Meditation Helps to Reduce Physical Pain

This evening I visited an NHS hospital in Sutton Coldfield to deliver a meditation session as part of an outpatients group organized by Dr Singh a consultant at the hospital.

It was an inspiration to see a group of twenty or so people meditating at the heart of an NHS hospital.

The root of all sickness lies within the mind - meditation practice addresses and works directly with the mind.  It is essential that more people have access to meditation techniques who are undergoing treatment within the NHS. As any Doctor will tell you many diseases are stress related.  The diagnoses of an illness can also increase our existing stress levels. 

In the session we engaged in a twenty minute meditation and then there was a presentation about how meditation can help to heal both the body and the mind.  At the end some of the outpatients asked questions - one asked 'how can meditation help reduce my physical pain when it is really intense'.

We discussed this issue for sometime...
 
I recounted a story of a close friend of mine, who I was with when they died of cancer. They meditated for many years before their illness.  Obviously it was an extremely painful and traumatic circumstance however his family and friend all remarked how strong and calm he was throughout the whole experience. He was practicing meditation thats why.

He was still in pain but was able to some degree ride the pain through his meditation practice.
He was able to do this because he had behind him a strong meditation practice that he could call upon.

Our culture of instant gratification creates an expectation of immediate results.
Instant food, information, entertainment, pleasure, results, friendships, noodles!

This is often why it can be a struggle to maintain a consistent meditation practice. Where are the results!! They come of course - however its like gardening, seeds don't sprout immediately.

If we can build up and sustain a regular meditation practice then we create a strong force for good within our heart which we can call upon when we encounter challenging situations.
So when we experience strong physical pain - yes we can meditate our way through it and even reduce and eradicate it, if we are well prepared.

As Robert Baden-Powel said: "Be prepared!!" 

Stop the Volcano Erupting

Last night here in Wolverhampton I gave a talk to the community about meditation and the subject Increasing Confidence and Reducing Depression.

We looked at the analogy of a volcano. 

The volcano that erupted in Iceland has caused incredible disruption across Europe - in the same way depression causes disruption within our life.
 
Just as a volcano erupting comes from a series of causes so does depression.  Depression arises over a period of time - often unhappiness that is bubbling under.  We need to try and stop the flow of negative thoughts through changing our mind - transforming our mind from negative to positive.

Practicing meditation gives us the power to accomplish this - we can prevent the eruption from causing chaos in the space of our mind...

No one owes you anything...

I just worked out over a quiet lunch that contentment and happiness will only ever grow if we let go feeling that others in someway owe us something.

No one owes you/me anything - get that and the rest is history - refuse to accept it and its an uphill struggle....