Overexcitable

I meditate as much as I am able, meaning it is a priority for me that sometimes gets overlooked. I seem to go through cycles of going to the gym, meditating, eating right, then falling off the wagon for a couple of days, rinse, repeat. I know how vital it is to my wellbeing yet somehow I am thrown off track by the real world. I am seduced by the fun and excitment of life, the shiny objects that crop up all the time as a small business owner - get more clients! learn to invest! network with other professionals!

Anyway it occurred to me today that meditating as an experience has some similarities to watching TV. I just reread that sentence and it sounds totally insane! Let me try to explain. For me, both are immersive experiences, meaning I can get lost in them, losing my sense of where I am, while at other times they are just part of a bigger event. I go away in a sense, exploring, asking questions, creating story, making connections, experiencing something outside myself. The reality-shift that shaman and storytellers have been using since the beginning of human history can be induced many ways, and I believe TV qualifies. However, on TV I will get pulled out of it every 8 minutes for a commercial break.

TV and meditation both offer break from the everyday physical reality around me and offer a more intense experience of life. I am glad for TV as it gives a respite from our own internal dialogue. Meditation does the same thing, teaching me how to move my attention away from my "monkey mind". The big difference for me is that in meditation I am much more of a participant, a cocreator. And I am in touch with something that cannot really be symbolised through moving pictures and sounds. But perhaps my generation's fascination with the medium can be leveraged toward a bigger spiritual goal. I can see the marketing campaign now!

Technorati tags: meditation spirituality television