The Secret Power of Meditation
So my story continues. I had been on various medications for 14 years when I met my wife to be. Meeting Zoe was to pave the way not just for love but also for a kicking in the boot of mental illness.
By this time I was on anti-psychotic drugs. The drug just slowed me down. These drugs make one dopey among other horrible side effects, and makes one feel not very alive! I am very active by nature so having a drug that slowed me down was certainly a knock on my confidence and felt like a prison sentence. It also meant I was not living and enjoying my life to the full.
Our minds consists of words we have heard…from even when we were in the womb. Those words we hear become our thoughts. Mental illness, without contest, is a disease of the mind, therefore this means we must be firstly be mindful what we feed our minds on. It is simply a case of Garbage In, Garbage Out. Conversely, if we hear good things, positive news, we can establish good thoughts and imbibe positive thought patterns that ultimately will pilot us in life.
We can control what we hear to a some extent. For example, I may choose not to listen to negative news or to gossip because it ultimately affects me or does not enrich me. However, we sometimes do not have a choice on what we hear, we can’t simply walk away. However interestingly, what you hear FROM YOURSELF is more important than anything else you hear. What you say to yourself affects you more than anything anyone else says to you. When you speak the Word of God to yourself, it has more of an effect than when someone else speaks the Word of God to you. This is where meditation comes in.
What is meditation? I mean Christian meditation?
Meditation comes from the Hebrew word ‘Hagah’ which means to moan, growl utter, speak, muse. (Strong’s Concordance 1897). So what do I choose to mutter, muse, speak and growl? Well, one foolproof safe bet is finding positive and uplifting words in the Bible.
Say I am not feeling a little unsure about myself today, what can I do? I can find out what God says about me! And that can be found in the good Book.
Now, that gets me excited because the Bible tells me that God’s thoughts towards me are thoughts of good (Jeremiah 29:11). So if I dwell on the thoughts of God, it helps cleanse my mind because I think good thoughts only. Even if there are negative things happening around me, towards me and in me, my thoughts have been cleansed with the Word of God.
Meditating on the Word involves more than just thinking; it is truly beyond positive thinking. It is about speaking also. Therein lies the power and the secret of meditation!
Meditation has power to change things. God told Joshua (see Joshua 1:8) that if he, Joshua, could only meditate, he would have good success. Meditation is an important key in good living and was very important in my path to healing and good health. Meditation is the matrix for creativity.
Next time, we will look at the 4 stages of meditation..
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