Meditation...

My late mother was a fan of meditation. That said, I really don't know if she derived any actual benefit from the practice, but I'm certain it sure did no harm.

The subject has come up on my radar over the past several months in at least two contexts. The first, having to do with trying to control one's blood pressure naturally, and the second, having to do with improving one's mental acuity (as in: ability to visualize, etc.).

So today, I decided to take the time (which is usually the big obstacle in in any new enterprise) and do it.

The "instructions" I followed were pretty much what I remember my mother telling me during her several (unsuccessful) attempts to interest me in the practice: start by assuming a seated position with with feet on the floor, hands on the thighs, eyes closed. Then take several deep, slow breaths.

Then comes the hard part: clearing one's mind.

I've always imagined that clearing one's mind is a little like "not thinking of an elephant," because the usual way of putting something out of your mind is to consciously think of something else. But the phrase that came coming back—and it's almost as if I can hear my mother's voice as I write this—was "if thoughts intrude, let go!"

Let go? Of what? (Or was I just letting my left-brain hold sway, here?)

That said, I still pressed on, and even though I frankly did not find it particularly easy to "clear my mind," I did find myself "letting go" of intruding thoughts, mostly by concentrating on interrupting the process of focusing on whatever thought it was that was entering my mind. The procedure was a little like a mental game of Whack-A-Mole, where the moles were thoughts. Then, once the flow had been stemmed, I would relax my vigilance, so to speak, and... meditate?

For a while, until the next thought showed up, whereupon I'd repeat the process.

I caught myself a couple of times with my head drooping, indicative of a near drift-off-to-sleep state, I recall consciously swallowing once, and having to scratch above my right eyelid.

I jad set a timer for 20 minutes for this exercise, but then Shiloh started to bark in the next room, so I decided to end my session and see just how much time had passed. It turns out I had been at it for just about 17 minutes, which actually didn't surprise me, one way or another.

* * *Today's work involved processing about 50 more PDFs for The Big Job™ and getting to within 650 words of finishing The Literary Translation™.

And there's rumor that tomorrow is a holiday.

Cheers...