Is your meditation safe?

Insights from Focusing

Mini-Tip:  1st December 2011

Although nativity cribs and mangers may be far away from Buddhist minds at Christmas, there’s a mythic theme that speaks to me. How to find a haven, a safe place at this dark time of the year? Not a cattle stall as such, but still, an inner sanctum; a place of simplicity, surrounded and supported by nature – where what wants to struggle into new life can do so; where what is yet unborn can find birth. 

The questions evolve as I practise. How can I be a safe haven, in myself? Can I become, myself, a place where other beings, whoever they are, find rest and comfort when needed?

My wish trickles into my meditation. Sitting becomes a crucible where safety distils. In meditation, I meet and interact with inner impulses, I discover inner selves. That’s where unknown and unexpected guests arrive each moment. 

As I watch myself greet each guest, I discover how safe I really am. How do I respond to each impulse? With subtlety and skills gained from my practice of Focusing, I listen and watch with curiosity.

I’m not entangled in each impulse; I’m not separate from it. I don’t measure distances here. It’s all about relationship. I seek to feel that vital connection with life, in whatever form it comes my way. I don’t presume to know better than any impulse – be it thought, feeling, sensation, image, or dreamy nothingness. 

I lose it; I find it. I lose it again. I enjoy doing both. That’s when safety is most alive.