Although I am a fan of many books on meditation, buddhism, and mindfulness, I still feel disdain for how meditation is discussed and taught. So many books on meditation only take you halfway and are disconnected from the rest of reality. They are so often the blind leading the blind—a cult of people using vague terms to describe vague ill-defined unfalsifiable goals. Looking back, even the best meditation books I’ve read are describing how to build the most beautiful bicycle when what you need is to take the train. Or they are describing what it is like to be in heaven, but their advice on how to actually get to heaven is lacking. These books are fascinating and beautiful and probably correct, but they don’t serve the reader with what they need, in my opinion.
Therefore I want to offer you a few exercises for the more practical among us. Let’s say that you’ve already discarded your ego. You are on board with buddhism. You’ve done all the exercises and meditation but something is missing for you, but you wish someone would just tell you something practical about meditation. What you may be looking for is a meditation based on visualization.
Here are some things to consider:
1. When you first wake up and when you are falling asleep, this is a special space between consciousness and unconsciousness where you have an opportunity to see things differently. Take advantage of it.
2. Loving Kindness Meditation. Take at least 5 minutes to visualize what it is like to make someone else in your life happy. Visualize doing them favors, or buying them gifts, or just seeing them smile for no reason at all. Your brain cannot help but automatically emphasize with this happy imagery and the feelings of love that you are imagining. Even though you are thinking of others, you yourself will feel happier immediately with this simple, practical, meditation. Listening to a song that makes you happy while you do it is also a reasonable exercise.
3. Ziva Meditation. Much like Happiness Meditation, visualize what you would like your life to be like. Visualize your goals. You don’t need to keep bringing your attention back to the present. Use your brain for what it is good for: Thinking and visualizing and planning. Let your brain see clearly the future you want for yourself and others. Then get up and make it come true.
That’s it.