Isn’t it fun to bend a rule and then one day find out that you had actually created a better mousetrap rather than breaking a rule? That happened to me last week.

For years I’ve wanted to meditate but haven’t been able to clear my mind or stay centered while noticing my thoughts flitting by. I also haven’t wanted to make a sustained sound or chant a phrase. I definitely didn’t want to sit in a special posture and take an hour out of my day. I also felt like a bit of a failure. Not a big failure, just a rule-bending, less-than-perfect person who devised her own way of “meditating.” I was so not meditating that in My Serenity Is an Inside Job program, I call my non-meditation “Being Still.”

To me, the whole point is to take time out of my busy-ness to discover my Inner Wisdom. When I sit quietly, I get insights. What I’ve never said was that I also have some intention about why I am being quiet. On Mondays, my question is “What is the topic for this week’s article?”. Other days, I might focus on the next step of my current project or how to deal with someone who is a challenge or what one of my clients really needs from me.

I thought this was kind of fraudulent as a meditation technique, but since it always worked for me, I kept doing it. When I suggested being still or sitting quietly to others, I didn’t also say, “have an intention or a problem to focus on” because I was afraid that would lead into an endless maze of recurring thoughts. It doesn’t have to.

Last week, my mentor Gay Hendricks introduced his students and colleagues to Steven Sashen. Gay is a long time meditator and when he said Steven’s technique is “a completely new approach to meditation…” and it’s fast! I wanted that, so I signed up for the teleseminar. Steven started the meditation portion by suggesting we begin by identifying a nagging issue and then asking, “What’s the one thing I need to do to resolve this issue forever?” He then had a few suggestions that stilled my monkey mind from replaying all my earlier attempts to solve the problem. What appeared for me was a simple answer to my question – something new and innovative and successful! Wow!

Basically, this was my technique, in which I never felt confident enough to totally reveal to others. Here was my mentor, recommending someone who had been doing the same thing for years and I had been coy about it! What a lesson! I’ve noticed how often I let the fear of making a mistake or looking weird or being caught bending the rules run my life. As you can see, the title of this article is a message for me. Here’s my next inquiry is, “How can I share my wisdom more courageously?”

If you want to participate in Steven’s program, you can get a free sample. Here’s the link http://advancedmeditation.com/cmd.php?af=656523.

© 2007, Jacqueline Hale