Connecting to the knowledge of life through meditation
by Tammy Gelfand
Fifteen years ago, I made an important connection I had never made before. Animals have the same light in their eyes that we do. It's the same life force. You will never see a cow, or a chicken, or even an ant racing toward its death. Why? Nothing on this earth ever wants to die. Fifteen years ago, I began to meditate in earnest. The connection of life and all in manifestation had never been an obvious one until then. Meditation connects you to the knowledge of your inner self, which connects you to the knowledge of life.

Meditation is an active process where the meditator remains alert and fully aware of the meditative process. An experienced guide will teach an aspiring meditator tools to relax the nervous system.
The purpose of meditation is to reconnect with the inner self. Many of us have been preoccupied with our busy lives and have lost that connection. We search and search everywhere outside ourselves for perfection, or fulfillment. We go from relationship to relationship, job to job, never really satisfied, always sure that the perfect life is waiting for us in the next job, or the next relationship. The cost of living for the next anything is high, for we never live in the moment. And life is made of moments. Meditation reminds us that there is a higher reality beyond our five senses, beyond the understanding of our limited minds. By reaching inside ourselves through the practice of meditation, we begin to forge a deep and profound connection with our inner, intuitive self.
Illness, rejection, worries about money - there is no quick fix to the challenges we face in today's demanding world. It is important to keep perspective. There are people fighting in wars, dealing with starvation, people who are homeless, dying, crippled. Our real growth is in learning to appreciate and give thanks for all the blessings we have - health, talent, future, opportunity, possibilities.
As a close friend once wisely advised: If it is easy, do it easy. If it is hard, do it hard. If you have to work in a job that is less than perfect, then just do it. If you have to work longer hours than you would like to, then just do it. Whatever it takes, just do it!! It is not always easy, but that is life and it is not always easy. Hold your head high, have confidence and FAITH. Help someone less fortunate than you. By helping someone else, you help yourself. Be the giver in life and life will give back to YOU!!
Adapted from her book The Life You've Always Wanted. For more information, please call, (416) 932-9028, or visit http://webhome.idirect.com/~tgelfand
"Meditation is a method or technique of educating the human mind, of giving it greater capacity and power of understanding. All people use the mind, but not all have come to know how the mind functions, what its purpose is, and how much power it has. Meditation creates greater power of vision so that one can see more clearly, greater power of thinking so that one can think more clearly, and greater power of understanding so that from chaos and confusion, comes clarity. If one meditates, one will have more power to direct the life of the body, mind and senses toward peace, joy, harmony, love and inspiration."
Vision of Oneness, Swami Shyam, 1994,India


It's time to take charge of your life
If you don't run your own life someone else will.
When you take charge of your life,
you'll never have to ask permission of others.
When you ask permission,
you give someone veto power over your life.
If you want to see a change for the better,
you have to take things in your own hands.
You are in control of your life to the degree that you make decisions.
To affect the outcome of anything,
you must control the action at the point of decision making.
When you control the decisions, you control the actions.