Is Your Mind Driving You Crazy? by John Cali

Image by Frank “Fg2” Gualtieri

Buddha once said “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

Until I started meditating many years ago, my mind really was driving me crazy. I can still get distracted, but I’ve found meditation to be a powerful tool for quieting my mind—and body too.

Our modern world holds many distractions. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Many of those “distractions” serve us well. The problem is, especially with the internet, we have all these things literally at our fingertips 24 hours a day.

I don’t know about you, but I need to take a break from technology now and then. I could not do this work I love without technology, but it’s refreshing to just turn off my computer and have some quiet time to myself—to meditate and to just be in the present moment.

Here’s Spirit.

Spirit

Being fully present in each moment of your lives is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, and others. Your presence is truly a gift.

We realize your modern world can be a very distracting place. All the more reason to practice presence—full presence in every moment of your waking awareness.

Obviously you are physically present in all your waking and sleeping moments. But how often is your mind, your focus off somewhere else?

All you really have is the present moment. All of what you call past and future, all of your life, all of your reality are contained in the present moment.

So you might as well be there—fully, consciously, deliberately.

You owe it to yourself to be here now, in every moment. You owe it to your loved ones.

You will find yourself more relaxed and at peace in more and more of your waking moments. You will be happier and healthier.

And, odd as it may sound, you will find linear time becoming more expansive. You will accomplish more in less time.

Those are only a few of the many benefits and blessings you will gain from such a simple thing as being fully present. Be fully present in the moment—every moment.


Adapted from Spirit Oracle Cards by John Cali, Frederic Calendini, and Stephanie Quesada (Great Western Publishing, 2013)

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Many folks tell me they have a hard time meditating. Often it’s because they have a distorted notion of what meditation really is. In its simplest form, meditation is just being in the present moment. Deepak Chopra explains this clearly in a short video:

Related links:
Call of the Moment
Sounds of Silence
Meditation
Past, Present, or Future?
The Peaceful Mind
How To Harness the Power of Meditation
Stillness on the Prairie

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Is it difficult for you to quiet your mind? What helps you to do it? Meditation, for example?Anything else? Please share your thoughts and comments with us below.

What other subjects would you like us to talk about in these posts? Please email me.

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About John Cali
John Cali is a writer, blogger, and channel for a group of spirit guides. His next book is Real Answers to Life’s Pesky Questions: Conversations With Spirit, Book 1. John lives in northwestern Wyoming. Sign up for his newsletter here.

10 Responses

  1. Dan

    “There are times I’m in the flow/ other times I just don’t know/ being present comes and goes

    I hear folks all the time say how that can’t unwind/ can’t stop the workings of their mind”

    Sorry I can’t share the music (at this time) which goes with those lyrics …

    This is a great topic, John – excellent video and comments from everyone which contributed.

    So: Meditation = Being Present … certainly not what most people would think.

    I guess I think that all thoughts are not created equal. There are the thoughts we have when we are focused and writing, for instance, or having a conversation with someone with full attention… and then there are thoughts which keep tumbling in circles – when one’s mind is spinning and one can’t get away from the what if’s, what’s wrong and what will be’s.

    I am happy to say I don’t have much of the latter anymore – the lyrics came from noticing my mind wandering (to good places) when I was on the tennis court – so I had to remind myself where I was – something that is clearly pretty normal for all of us.

    I don’t really hear people complaining all the time about not being able to quiet their minds – I suspect most folks aren’t aware of all the chatter. However, I had played music at a party and was done for the night relaxing by a fire pit with a glass of wine and I heard a woman say this was the only place she could relax – and thus the lyric.

    Despite the hustle and bustle of our world – there are lots of folks who are peace filled and present – I meet them everyday – and they are also clearly participating on the website.

    Thanks for the article, John and Spirit.

    One more thing I would like to share – I have been reading articles on this site for several years now – and went through the archives cause the words were nourishing me and helping me to remember and accept what I already knew to be true. But nowhere did I ever find the greeting which Spirit uses when the group enters and leaves in a channeling. I suspect there are others who don’t know it – and it is beautiful and apropos:

    May the peace of the great spirit be with you always and in all ways.

    Thanks again to the present group.

    • John Cali

      Thanks very much, Dan, for your thoughts and comments.

      I agree that most folks are unaware of their mind chatter. I know from personal experience — it was not until I started meditating years ago that I even knew mind chatter existed. But, as you say, there are more and more folks these days who are peaceful and present in the moment. I think those of us on a path of deliberate, conscious spiritual growth are contributing to the planet, making it easier for others to evolve on their own paths.

      Thanks so much for your kind words — I really appreciate them, and YOU!

      And thanks also for pointing out the greeting and goodbye message Spirit uses in private readings. I suspect you’re right — unless people have had a personal reading from Spirit, they have never heard it. So I appreciate you sharing it here.

  2. Susan

    I just today started a 21-day Mantra Meditation program offered on line by Deva Premal and Miten, who I enjoy listening to… Since it just started today, I am sending the link to their website in case someone might want to join — it’s a free offering:

    http://www.devapremalmiten.com/

    I don’t, personally, have any one particular practice that I use because almost anything can become a form of meditation for me. It’s all rather spontaneous!

    Love,
    Susan

    • John Cali

      Thanks very much, Susan. I was aware of the meditation you mention, but I’m not doing it. It sounds similar to the 21-day meditations Deepak Chopra has been doing for a few years. Those are excellent, as I’m sure this one is too.

      I agree with you — almost anything can be a meditation as long as we’re fully present in the moment.

      Love,
      John

  3. Mikala

    Nature. When I am outside, in a park, walking on the prairie, inside a forest or standing by one solitary tree, I cannot stop from going into meditation. Nature shouts Oneness, I feel it, I experience both being grounded to the Earth Mother, and One with what is all around me and above me. All tension leaves my body and my mind quiets, my heart opens and I AM Home.
    That is my sure place for meditation .

    I also meditate in my special place within my home. If I have something bothering me, I have some specific music I play very low. I have a large crystal I hold near my heart. I close my eyes and listen. That’s all, just listen. Eventually, I hear the solution to anything that is bothering me. That’s a different kind of meditation.

    In some ways, I feel I live in a constant meditation. (Another one of those “cannot be explained in words” items.)

    Celebrate this wonderful day,
    Micki

    • John Cali

      Thanks very much, Micki.

      I love your meditation practices. Years ago I did only “formal” meditation, and I still do. But now when I’m running out in nature, that too has become a form of meditation for me — a moving meditation.

      I do understand what you mean about constant meditation — I too live (much of the time at least) in that state.

  4. shirley White

    Great question. My answer is ,no. I have been blessed (in so many ways) with an amazing ease of meditating. As a matter of fact when I first began to practice or learn to meditate some 25 years ago, I was trying so hard to follow all the methods I had read and studied that I didn’t actually realize it was so easy for me that I was getting in my own way.

    My favorite story is about when I so dearly wanted to connect to the Archangels and ascended Masters that I was really determined to get this “meditation stuff” and make the connection. While making my valiant attempt, I heard this inner voice commenting to me. . .So being such a novice, I said, “Shh, I’m trying to talk to the angels. . .” I did that several times until I heard that inner voice laughing. Which caused me to ask why the laughter? “Because we are here and most willing to talk to you, dear one. I am the Archangel Michael and we are one with your intent.”

    So instead of all the supposedly difficult and detailed steps that I was attempting to follow in order to get to a meditative state. . . .Deep Yogic breathing got me there in almost 3 breaths, and has ever since. Apparently this is something I have done a lot in other lifetime aspects of me and I had a very natural and quite quick connection to deep meditation.

    I certainly have compassion for those who have difficulty in quieting their minds and allowing themselves to attain a meditative state. Sometimes perhaps we just try too hard.

    Like I said. . .I have been very blessed in this lifetime. My gratitude is endless and deep.
    Whatever gets you there, just do it and don’t judge yourself as being inept or unable to achieve it. . .Bless yourself and ask for assistance. You’ve done all this before, many times.
    (I find for many that Yogic breathing, or Belly breathing as it is sometimes called is really a very effective means. There are some good you tube videos out there that demonstrate the technique very clearly) Whatever method or methods you might choose, just allow yourself to go for it. Your clear intention is very helpful too.

    Blessings and Hugs to all
    Shirl

    • John Cali

      Thanks very much, Shirl.

      So many get caught up in the idea meditation has to be done with a certain technique or prescribed formula. For me, meditation — while it can be formal — is more about being consciously aware of my connection to, and alignment with, Spirit.

      Hugs,
      John

  5. jerry

    Hi John,

    I used to be concerned when first learning about meditation that I could never attain that state of quietness. Interestingly enough, a short time later, I was listening to someone who channeled Yesha (Jesus) and he stated that meditation can be done anywhere and anytime by focusing on what brings you joy and thereby connecting with a spirit of appreciation. Either with your pets, taking a shower and enjoying the water, washing the dishes, taking a drive, taking a walk, etc., it does not matter.

    I have used all of these methods because I can let the ego mind do a job that does not take much effort, just kinda coasting along. This allow a connection to spirit where thanks is given for this life of friends in all aspects of life. For me, this seems to be the best way to reconnect.

    Love and thanks,
    Jerry 🙂

    • John Cali

      Hi Jerry,

      I love that channel’s take on meditation. That’s how I see it now, although I didn’t always, especially when I first started meditating years ago. But now that I do see it that way, it’s become, for me, “the best way to reconnect,” as you put it.

      Love,
      John

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