Learning is lost without meditation, so I choose to make this a part of every day for the rest of my life. Nothing is more profitable than meditation, when done right.
Good meditation requires stopping the input. Books, TV, music, work, and interaction are important to give us new ideas, but they are ideas and values from other people. Constant activity and input doesn’t give us a chance to think for ourselves. Only the time we take to sort out our thoughts within ourselves allows us to develop our individuality, in the areas of creativity, objectivity, and personal values.
Creativity depends on our being able to think freely. Many times, I have struggled with a problem all day without success. The harder I tried to figure out the solution, the more frustrated I got. But then the answer just came to me as I was waking up. It’s like something in my brain was able to replay all the events of the day and make it simple. Maybe it was God. Maybe God speaks to us more than we realize and we just don’t get quiet enough to listen. In any case, I carry a notebook around the house and keep it by my bed. Sometimes I make myself get up in the middle of the night and write down a good thought. Now I’m beginning to realize how many good thoughts were lost forever because I didn’t take a few seconds to write them down.
It’s easy for us to see masses of people in our society who are not objective because they respond too quickly to the current news or trends. Most people are followers and a few are manipulators. Those who live for pleasures or are burdened with guilt are the most easily scammed. Not enough people take time to analyze motives and trends. We especially need to know ourselves. Daily introspection allows us to control our personal addictions and resolve our guilt from past mistakes. Only then can we keep ourselves from being manipulated by others and make wise decisions.
Where do we get personal values? I make a point to have a quiet time in the Bible every morning, asking God to teach me something new. Then I meditate on a value to make it a part of my life. Christian meditation meditates on something rather than nothing. Good values don’t come from just watching what everyone else is doing, but from meditating to determine what I’m going to do in any situation. Maturity often comes from identifying bad decisions we made. The sooner we develop good values, the fewer bad decisions we make. It’s worth it to stop being busy for a little time every day and meditate.
Meditate or stagnate.