Nailed it!

Meditation – there are a zillion and one half confounding ways to express, to word the goal of this shit. Ya know, the why of doing it. 

In its purest definition, meditation refers to the way, the method, path or process by which one is led from within, to a universal center of calm awareness and inspired intuition. (source)

Meditation is a practice where an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or for the mind to simply acknowledge its content without becoming identified with that content, or as an end in itself. (source)

It is the means for fathoming all the levels of ourselves and finally experiencing the center of consciousness within. (source)

And blah, blah, blah. I’m still way hazy on what the fuck this shit is. I know meditation’s supposed to help me slay life’s stress monsters or, at least, cope with them better. That's totes a consummation devoutly to be wished...and shit.

Meditation is a means of transforming the mind. (source)

I DO love a straight to the point declarative opening sentence.

Buddhist meditation practices are techniques that encourage and develop concentration, clarity, emotional positivity, and a calm seeing of the true nature of things. (source)

OK, got it but now what? How do I get there? I seem to be missing the stillness gene. I just can’t manage to go all lotus, mantra-on-the-yoga-mat, peaced out city. After much exploration though, I’ve found that there are a shit-ton more ways of getting there.

When we take a look at the various explanations of meditation, another thing we often see is that meditation is defined as taking a moment to sit quietly or to ponder. True meditation, however is much more than this. It is a state of profound, deep peace that occurs when the mind is calm and silent, yet completely alert. (source)

I’ve been exploring walking and triking meditation with a certain degree of success.

One thing I’ve found that completely arrests my buzzing, overactive mind is sitting very close to the water’s edge, watching the waves and wavelettes hitting the beach. Also, the surface of the water – checking out its textures, colors and movement whether calm OR tossed. When I’m sitting on the seawall steps or my butt's in the sand, my mind is just THERE. I know I've talked about this before and mentioned that I need to leave the camera at home so I can concentrate better. Well, I've come to the conclusion that, YES, I can achieve calm, clear, positivity and peace even when I'm going all papparazzo on those waves.

So then – yesterday here at home and this morning down at Nantasket – nailed it!