Hello SG land.
I am always feeling the need to blog more and spend a considerable amount of time browsing blogs and the homework thread looking for ideas. This homework, best gift I have received, has been mulling over in my head ever since I read it. Last night it occurred to me that I was way overthinking this.
Simply put the best gift I have ever received was my mantra. My father in law was an advocate of meditation. He practiced Transcendental Meditation (TM) and I dare say never went a day without it in 25-30 years. When I first married my wife I was going through a lot of turmoil both inner and outer and he thought that TM would be something that could benefit me and help me be calm and relax. I can be pretty tense most of the time and suffer from anger and rage issues, mostly directed inwards as I can appear nice and calm on the surface. Don't get me wrong we all have our moments of anger which is healthy if controlled and directed in a meaningful way. So he decided, with much prompting from my wife, to sit me down and teach me the basics of TM. During this session, the only time we ever meditated together, he gave me my mantra for my medication. It is based on the two chakras he felt I needed the most "help" in. He also was not wrong. The mantra he gave me has only ever been spoken aloud twice. Once when he told me and again right after when I repeated it back. He ssid for it to have any meaning it may never be spoken aloud so it would only have meaning during my meditation and help me bring my head to where it needed to be.
That session of meditation I shared with him is to this day the best meditation experience I have ever had. I never really got into a good TM habit and only do it 3-5 times a year when I feel I most need it. Nothing would please me more then to make a safe place somewhere and get into a more steady habit of meditation cause I do always feel relaxed and refreshed afterwards. In this age of the Internet, social media, and smartphones I believe it is now more important then ever to make that time. Truth be told I could say the same about my Yoga habit.
This all happened seventeen years ago and will probably forever be the best and most important gift I ever received. I just wish I could have told him so. My father in law passed away quite suddenly six and a half years ago and I still miss him deeply. I am actually getting all choked up and teary eyed just thinking about it. We just had Father's Day here in the states and even though my dad is still alive and I wished him well my father in law will always have a special place in my heart. This blog is for you Tim. I still miss you more then you will ever know, well maybe now you do know. That's my one wish.
Take care all
Hug your loved ones
Yaoth.
P.S. Here's a little chart of the chakras. Something I feel we all need in our lives.
