A very common misconception about meditation is that it seems so SELFISH, and SELF CENTERED.
Many, maybe most, meditation practices that ARE self focused. That is not the same thing as SELFISH. A regular practice of meditation is often the path toward a life of sincere and healthy and loving relationships. Many things that we do under the guise of tending to other people are done with the goal in mind of making other people look favorably upon ourselves. When we learn to pay close attention to our own thoughts and feelings, needs, and other experiences, in kindness and patience with ourselves, we are preparing ourselves to pay close attention to those around us, to their thoughts and feelings, needs, and other experiences, in kindness and patience.
Thomas Merton said: “While physical solitude removes us from our fellow man, interior solitude unties us with him. It is communion with our fellow man on a much deeper level than the social fictions of life in a large city or a technological world allow.“
Many meditation practices include components that assist us in recognizing the connection we have with the rest of creation. Some meditation practices actually direct our focus moving from ourselves, outward toward people who are important to us, then to others whom we know but not well, then to those with whom we are having some difficulty, and on to as broad a group of people or beings as we can imagine clearly at that point in our journey.
A regular meditation practice can help us to relate more mindfully and more “kindfully” with our mates, our children, our parents and other relatives, with our friends and neighbors, with co-workers, with those we often take for granted, with those we might consider enemies, and with society and the world.
Look for upcoming instructions and guided meditations on Mindful Relationships and Loving Kindness.