Tie-dyed Meditations
Posted on 26th July 2022 at 09:16
Those interesting patterns and shapes on clothes are back. (Aren’t they? I am not too sure if they ever went away. My fashion knowledge is limited. ) Regardless of whether they are or they aren’t, they provided me with a convenient metaphor for this blog :)
When we sit down to meditate, we have an expectation that we will have long periods of silence or quiet, with perhaps the odd interspersion of thought or distraction drifting in.
The meditation guide tells us to become aware of the distraction, then gently escort the attention back to the present moment, where we can focus for a while until it happens again.
Start, stop, start, stop. Like chapters in a book. Neatly ordered and sequential. Not entirely what we wanted of course, which was to be in blissful silence.
Well…it doesn’t happen like that very often does it. And the whole point is that it shouldn’t be like that at all. Like the tie-dyed t-shirt or dress, the moments just run into one another, a collision of thought and experience.
One second thinking we are focusing serenely on the breath, then a sudden whoosh of “I forgot to do that…”, followed by the flapping wings of a bird, then a voice telling yourself to calm it and be in the moment, then you have an epiphany of how to finally nail that problem that’s been on your mind…. and so on. It can all come thick and fast.
The world changes moment by moment. A bombardment of thoughts and feelings, and if we are listening, a change in air temperature, pains in the body coming and going, distant sound waves reaching your ears then disappearing again. It all seems so chaotic, perhaps not what you wanted to feel.
But if you are patient with it, allow for this moment-by-moment zigzagging, then like the tie-dyed garment – a pattern emerges, as clear as day. What seemed chaotic in mind has been ordered and filed, leaving you clearer to move on.
Next time you sit down to meditate, and you feel you can’t settle, don’t resist it, just allow a moment or two and go with the experience, it will take you somewhere, and the reward is insight and calm.
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