Officially, I’ve seldom meditated. That is to say I have not sat down in a lotus position or chanted any mantras to meditate. Unofficially, I’ve meditated hours upon countless hours while hiking. I always suspected something healthy came from that; research confirms this.
Research has shown meditation to both increase gray matter and slow down shrinkage of white matter in the brain. Along with these distinct physiological benefits come proven functional benefits. Meditation increases focus. Meditation reduces stress. Meditation stills the mind and allows needed processing and recovery to occur. These are all well researched, well established benefits, up there with exercise in regards to their certainty.
May I interject a spiritual note here. To me, meditation is better than prayer. Yes, both can be the same thing in theory, yet often not in practice. People often pray to get something of their own choosing. You meditate to receive something not of your intentional choosing, but nevertheless what you need most. That makes all the difference in handling life.
Alas, this might have been one of Cindy’s downfalls. The Go Go Go Gal never was still at anything. Sure, when she hiked she probably reached a meditative state, maybe when she gardened as well. Yet daily devotion to meditation never would have been her thing, nor can I persuade her to do so now. Maybe that’s the thing with advanced Alzheimer’s. You are brought to a point where you can’t do the things you must do yourself to combat the disease.
I have my own problems with meditation, or at least with traditional forms of the practice. I’m a natural kind of guy, hence, unnatural positions and chants distract more than focus or still me. Also, the caregiver role does not lend itself well to meditation. I do have a few tricks for stilling the mind that I employ when I find the opportunity or absolute necessity.
One is to read cartoon books such as Calvin and Hobbes or Dilbert. This entertains my mind in a way that also seems to subsequently relax me as well. After I finished writing Systems out of Balance I spent a whole year reading only cartoon books. After researching things like our economic and foreign policies my mind needed relaxing in a big way!
Another trick is to work on a problem in my mind. Now this sounds like the very antithesis to meditation, but the secret lies in the type of problem to solve. Anything too personal or too important will of course do the exact opposite of what you need. Ah, but if I pick something mundane or boring enough I’m in essence resorting to my own personalized mantra. My mind becomes still in the process of dwelling in the mundane and then opens up to whatever needs to happen.
I still need to make a daily commitment to meditation, not just rely on opportunity or necessity. I suggest you make a daily commitment as well, using whatever means work best to still your mind.
Thanks for the the vote of confidence for meditation. I’m like Cindy has always been–on the go, no shut-down time. You may have, in your writing, given me my “meditation/focus” time, something I may already have, but didn’t know it. I may already be doing something close, but didn’t know it. I love to read, but only certain types of books, so I don’t do it all the time. I MAKE myself read early in the morning before starting my day if I’m going to get any reading done at all. That focused time really gives me a good start on my day; that may be my meditation time. Maybe the best I’m going to get–like Cindy, I have no time for that! I’ll try harder and look more for those books that will give me “daily” focus. Blessings.