Meditation is a discipline of concentrating on one specific thought. Perhaps it is a Torah verse, counting breaths, or focusing on a single object. However, no matter what, it is essential during meditation not to think about results.
positive concentration
focus already
obstacles to concentration
quotes
"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." --Devarim 6:4-9
"And how can you achieve such concentration? By recognizing that everything you do is important to God, and is one vital piece of the larger picture of your life." — Menachem Mendel Schneerson
"Peace can also be reached through concentration upon that which is dearest to the heart." — Patanjali
"Discipline and concentration are a matter of being interested." — Tom Kite
"By practicing concentration the mind can be made stable. A stable mind helps in taking right decisions and achieving the desired result." — Rig Veda
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’ "— Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal." — E. Joseph Cossman
"All the Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas, layin’ in the sun talkin’ ‘bout the things they Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda Done… But all those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas all ran away and hid from One Little Did." — Shel Silverstein
you shall not ignore it
There’s never a dull moment around our house. As I’ve been preparing to write an article about the middah of awareness, my wife has found two stray ladybugs in our kitchen. She has made it her personal mission this Sunday to make sure they are fed and watered before she sends them off into the wild world.
look at the lilies
from where? from whom?
quotes
"All of Israel is responsible for one another." —Shavuot 39a
Rabbi Eliezer says: "Let other peoples dignity be as precious to you as
your own." —Pirkei Avot 2:15
Rabbi Akiva would say, "Human beings are beloved because they were created in the image of God. It is an even greater love that this was made know to humanity, as it says, 'and in the image of God were people created.'" -Pirkei Avot 3:14
"If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?" — Rumi
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." — Albert Einstein
"In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you." — Leo Tolstoy
"Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it." — Andy Rooney
"Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others." — Susan Sontag
"You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down." — Charles Chaplin
"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." — John Wooden
haze in the olam
mindful orbiting
routine awareness
generosity as stewardship
One of my favorite jokes is a story of a group of scientists who, convinced that they don’t need God anymore, proceed to attempt to prove it by making a human being out of the dirt (like he made the first). They do quite well and God decides to let them know how nice of a job they did but, to be fair, if they really wanted to prove they didn’t need him anymore they should get their own dirt!
