"Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Longfellow mixes the idea of nature with silencing the mind. A recent speaker said research now shows that when the thinking mind is turned off, the meditative mind automatically engages. She called it the default setting of the mind. The trick is to turn off thoughts. Even when I have trouble getting to sleep at night, it is not usually physical discomfort, but thoughts that keep me awake. Not even worries usually. Just thoughts of things I want/need to do, conversations that took place, ideas from something I read. As humans we treasure our ability to think, but it is important to not let thinking take control of us. The meditative state -- that state of no thought -- is deeply healing. Harvard Medical School research indicates that 20 minutes a day of deep relaxation or meditation can dramatically reduce our stress and improve our overall health.
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