Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Tag: Meditation

  • Why I Share My Meditation Moments

      

    A few years ago I began sharing pictures I took during my “Meditation Moments”throughout the day. I shared them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I put a collection of them together in a book: Living with Passion. 

    “It’s not meditation if you’re stopping to get your camera out,” my daughter teased me. (At least I think she was being light-hearted about it…)

    The pictures served a purpose. Not only was I getting my personal meditative time in throughout the day, but I was also noticing beauty everywhere. 

      
    Nature restores. The fresh air, the color, the varying textures–all of those things come together to change the energy within us. 

    A wonderful thing began to happen: other people began sharing their “Meditation Moments.” 

      
    Meditation is about being in the now and transcending it. It’s about gratitude. It’s recognizing the beauty of the moment and knowing that’s all you own in that very moment. 

    “But I’m too busy! I don’t have time for this stuff!”

    I get it. 

    But you know what that means? 

    You probably need it more than anyone else. 

    There’s an old Zen saying, “You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes everyday – unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour.”

      

  • My Form of Meditation

     

    Every day, I take some time to meditate in the morning.  I also practice what I call the “Stop, drop, and meditate” ritual.  Quite simply, I drop everything and go within.   If I’m outside, I often capture a picture of my surroundings and share it with others.  To my great delight, I find others sharing their meditation pictures with me as well. I especially love the photos I spontaneously get from friends.  In the middle of busyness, it is a wonderful reminder to pause and reflect on what really matters.

    You don’t need anything fancy to start meditating. There’s nothing mysterious about it, although you will find many variations, processes, and rituals out there.  For me, meditation is my quiet time with God.  I’ve heard it said that prayer is “you talking to God” and meditation is “God talking to you.”

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  • In Praise of Meditation

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    Every day, I spend some time meditating in quiet thought. I start with some gratitude, for I find it gets me in a good frame of mind. Then I spend some time “sitting for ideas,” a process I learned from Debra Poneman.

    I love finding new places to meditate surrounded by nature. This morning, I went out to a dock in Winter Haven surrounded by reeds. It was the perfect place to be alone in thought.

    I had been feeling so weighed down for a while, the result of going in too many different directions. It’s that lovely “ADD” aspect of me. I try hard to control it, but sometimes I let it get the best of me.

    After the go-go-go of the last several weeks, the stillness of the morning took over. I sat there for a long time. A hawk flew overhead. I thought of my friendMary Clark who passed away recently and I began to cry.

    A good, cleansing cry. I needed it.

    As I stood up to walk back, a bird flew out from the reeds. It was a red-winged blackbird.

    My dad.

    /missin-dad-one-year-later/