Meditation: Cushion or Bucket Seat? by Anne Nayer, Coach Paradise

Be Here Now

As I was driving around the island this morning, my mind was going faster than my car. It was dishing up one train of thought after another:  I was in New York one minute and Paris another; I was in the past with my ex and I was in the future worrying about what would happen if this or that…  Some thoughts led to bad neighborhoods and some were random, like dreams that  leave me wondering.  When I looked up out of my head and out the window, I gasped at Hans Lollick looming like the green and gorgeous island it is,  smack dab in front of me, my prize for returning to  the land of now.  I was awarded a glimpse of the breath-taking yellow flamboyant tucked behind a corner across from the Bridge-to-Nowhere and, the treats kept popping up right and left whenever I took a vacation from my mind and returned to the present.

I meditate each morning by repeating a couple of Sanskrit words over and over to gently bring my wayward mind back whenever I notice it wandering. I do this over and over and over again because my mind keeps wandering. The payoff  for daily mediation is a more positive attitude, a greater sense of peace and well-being, less stress and and more gratitude. Meditation has been shown to lower blood pressure and help with all kinds of  physical and mental distress.

I see life as a macro meditation where we are  challenged to focus on the present and be alive to all that is around us over and over and over again until we are more awake, more present and quicker to notice when we are not.  Sitting on a cushion is mind training and it oozes over into our daily life and into the bucket seat. Anything we do from walking to driving to washing the dishes to sweeping, can be a mediation and a chance to practice being here now.

In my up close investigation of just how much time I am fully present, I discover that I am often absent from my own life. Mediating has made me aware of the dizzying pace at which my mind sprints from one thought to the next so I was onto myself both on the meditation cushion and buckled into the bucket seat.

Before heading home, I decided to check on the big mango tree at the entrance to Dorothea.  After a beautiful ride down the hill to the sea, I pulled in under the canopy of trees at entrance to the property. It was lush and shady with not a mango in sight. I got out of the car and looked around. Framed in the crimson of flamboyant trees I saw the rescue horses – 4 or 5 of them in their corrals. I walked over to say hello, petted some noses, took lots of photos and talked softly to them telling them how beautiful they were when I heard a meow. A petite Siamese cat jumped from a shed to the ground and came on over to be petted and to follow me around rubbing up against my leg.  A gigantic iguana strolled through the soft grass. A mongoose scurried among a few chickens, a rooster, a guinea hen and me.

I realized I hadn’t thought of anything except the animals, how gorgeous they were, what a beautiful spot we were in and how “one-love” I was feeling with all species and, it seemed, them with me – the whole time I’d been there.  No one batted an eyelash. No one started in fear. The horses, the cat and I reached out for some affection and gave and received love easily, no questions asked.   I wasn’t thinking about yesterday or tomorrow, or dinner or anything not right in front of me. I was on a vacation from my mind and it felt great.  My body relaxed and I was filled with well-being and peace.

We are all invited to enjoy a  free vacation in the land of NOW. The invitation is addressed to each and everyone of us and the event is being fully present to your own life instead of nodding off during the show or missing all the best parts.  When we wake up, everything is here, now.