One of the things I’ve noticed about meditation over the last three years is that it gives me answers to some of life’s most challenging questions.
Sitting in silence has provided me with what often times is like a super power of sorts. Time and time again I find solutions to problems I didn’t even know I had just by sitting on the meditation cushion and seeing what kind of thoughts are pervading my mind.
It seems to me that meditation gives me access to an infinite well of knowledge and when I settle my mind, I’m able to see through the murky waters and into my subconscious.
The magic of meditation
When we quiet ourselves through meditation, the waters of our minds begin to settle down which gives us access to a part of ourselves that cannot be reached through traditional methods of self-exploration.
The brain it seems, needs to be in a certain state (alpha or theta wave state) in order for the subconscious mind to blossom and meditation is one of the only ways in which this state is achieved with any level of conscious awareness.
But here’s the cool part:
When we can access our subconscious mind and get answers to our heart’s deepest desires and longings, we begin to live a more fulfilling life that’s aligned with the universe itself. In other words, we stop trying to swim upstream so to speak and we let life take us where it wants us to go!
At least that’s how it’s worked for me.
Don’t believe me?
Here are just a couple of the insights I’ve gained from this incredibly powerful well of knowledge that resides within me:
I am someone who is sensitive but is also powerful because I’m in tune with other people’s emotional states.
I care about what other people think of me…So let’s flip that on its head and serve those people, instead of trying to get them to like me.
I don’t want to spend 40 years working in a corporate system that I don’t believe in and that isn’t making the world a better place.
I was put on this world to serve others, not the other way around.
I am scared of failure but the only way to win in life is to lose a bunch.
As you can see, these insights aren’t necessarily profound nor are they particularly descriptive. Instead, what you see there are general “ideas” that act more like a beacon of light as opposed to a road map.
Understanding the subconscious mind
But this is what it sounds like when we speak to the subconscious mind. Often times, the ideas I get from this well of knowledge are not ideas at all. Instead, they are more of a feeling or a knowing that resides within me.
For example, I know I want to do work that serves people, but I don’t know exactly what that looks like. For now, using this idea as a life compass of sorts, I can navigate through my circumstances and ultimately end up living a life of service to others.
If I were to have continued living my life the way I was before I knew how to understand my minds subconscious desires, then I might have destined myself to live a life based solely on the accumulations of crap, impressing others and seeking promotions in order to feel good about myself.
I don’t know about you, but I find serving people is a MUCH better use of my time in this life!
The point is this:
When we sit in the silence of meditation and seek answers to life’s questions we give ourselves space to arrive at a holistic answer that comes from the much more powerful subconscious mind. And even if one answer leads to another question, meditation provides us with the framework to navigate through life’s most difficult challenges.
To me, this is what’s so amazing about meditation: it gives us answers!
How to tap into the well
Now, before you go running to your meditation cushion and settle in for a long session of “questions and answers,” I encourage you to read the rest of the post and follow the process I’ve outlined below.
This process will help you settle into the subconscious mind and understand it when it’s speaking to you, so you can then act on the insights you’ve gained:
Step 1:Find a place in your house or wherever you can to get away from all distractions. We are trying to change brain wave patters here, so if you get interrupted the practice will be severely compromised.
Step 2:Find a posture that’s conducive to relaxation but also to an alert awareness. For me, I like to sit in a chair with my back erect and a pillow behind my lower spine to reduce any aches and pains that might arise during a long sit.
Step 3:Rehearse an intention to yourself that opens up the mind and incentivizes it to seek understanding as opposed to control. For me, my intention often looks like this, “May I learn something about myself during this meditation as opposed to just trying to ‘get through’ my meditation.”
Step 4:Find your breath…Nothing fancy here, at this point we are still just settling the mind and changing our brain wave states from beta to alpha and finally theta. Being conscious of our breath settles the mind – and that’s what we’re after here.
Step 5:Once you have settled your mind and moved down the spectrum of brain waves, you’re now ready to start listening to the subconscious.
To do this, ask yourself the questions you seek to answer but instead of trying to answer the question, SHUT UP and LISTEN!
Watch the mind. Listen to the pervading thought patterns and stories your mind is telling you.
See the mind without trying to force yourself or your will upon it! Be curious about what you see and about what you hear. Try if you can to cultivate a curious and kind disposition towards the subconscious mind.
Step 6:Take note of any common themes, thoughts or ideas that came up for you while you’re sitting. Remember, the key is in the listening, NOT the answering.
After you ask yourself the question you have to listen to really understand the answer because remember, we’re dealing with the subconscious mind here and the rules for conversing with the conscious mind and subconscious mind are very different.
Step 7:After the meditation is over our ideas and the answers to our questions are still not crystalized! So, in order to finish the process and polish off the rock of wisdom we received from the subconscious well of knowledge, we journal.
We write down what we heard and what we saw…
Now is when we can be descriptive about what the subconscious mind told us. Now is when we get a steadfast answer to our questions. Now, is when we use the power of the subconscious mind to begin changing our lives!
Conclusion
This 7-step process is the process I’ve used to literally change my life in the last 24 months. It’s not always easy to get access to the incredibly powerful subconscious mind that lives within us but when we do, it has the power to change our lives for the better.
So, I encourage you to sit with your subconscious for a while this next week. Seek to understand its wisdom and let it navigate you through life’s most treacherous waters!
Thank you as always for reading this week’s blog! We hope you enjoyed the content and we can’t wait to hear about how you’ve used these 7 steps to transform your life, so be sure to drop us a note!
Until next time!
Many Many Blessings
Compass