Final Thoughts
It's Up To You
This is the final blog post for this series and I wanted to thank you for your interest. The previous posts can be found here. Please take the time to go over these posts and make an effort to practice the exercises. It is the actual experience of meditation that will inspire you to continue.
In these posts there are more than enough resources for you to begin and sustain a regular meditation practice. An important thing to recognize is the newness and sense of inner progress and discovery is to be found in your sincere meditation practice and not in new techniques. Some people use only one or two techniques such as breathing or mantra their entire lives - however their experience is ever new because of their sincere and regular practice.
"God has chosen the conditions under which you are living your present life. It is like a play. The stage is set and the curtain has been raised for you to perform your part and advance along the spiritual path. Your present conditions are the best possible ones for your advancement." - Sri Chinmoy
If you wish to continue with your meditation practice then my feeling is the two things that will help to most to sustain and nurture this journey is a regular daily practice and finding a teacher and community you like and connect with.
My experience with a regular practice of meditation has been that it enables me to become more connected with the deeper and richer parts of myself and inherently enables me to make choices that are more fulfilling and rewarding in my life. Meditation enables me to better listen to my heart - and when I listen to my heart I make more illumined choices in my life that eventuates in a more satisfying existence.
Of course it takes effort and there are definitely times when I may not feel inspired or like sitting down to meditate sincerely for 20 minutes - but from experience I know that if I do make the effort the rewards will be far greater than if I do not.
So I bid you well in your continuing inner journey and if you have further questions I can be reached on twitter @salilwilson or you can visit my blog www.joyblog.org.
If you would like to do some further reading there are many highly acclaimed authors for you to choose from - here's partial list some which I have come across: Sri Chinmoy, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekananda, Thomas Jefferson (he created a wonderful version of the bible choosing excerpts he loved most). Of course there are many others and this is just a starting point.
Good luck,
Salil
About the Author
Salil Wilson has been practicing meditation for 27 years under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy. Salil also serves as the Executive Director of the World Harmony Run, an global Torch-Relay - promoting the ideals of peace and international understanding.