I began a daily meditation practice about 8 years ago. I very quickly realized how little time my mind spent in a state of stillness and non-distraction.

The hours of one's life can be so mired in worry. We worry about getting ahead, about making money and keeping up with the Jones.' As parents we worry endlessly about our children's health and development. We fret about our relationships with others, about our carbon footprint, about the pesticides on our apples. And all of these thoughts carry us directly away from the present moment.

Benefits of Meditation in Vernon BC

My meditation practice began to open my eyes about how seldom I was actually present. For example, I would notice that while showering after a busy day, instead of focusing my attention on the sensory experience of the warm water of my skin, my mind would be replaying the day's conversations and formulating illusions of conversations to come. It was like the shower wasn't even happening; I was sacrificing my precious moments in the here and now while my mind danced in an illusion of past and future events.

So much of our lives are spent getting through this so that we can get to what we really want, which is that... over there. We see our moments as means to an end, and not as fulfilling experiences in their own right. Meditation began to teach me that this lack of presence, this lack of connection to the present moment, is the very seed of suffering.

To sit quietly and settle your mind in a daily practice can be very challenging. You will come face-to-face with boredom and restlessness, the driving forces that make us avoid the present moment and long to be somewhere more exciting, more distracting. Our world has become so high-definition, so digitally enhanced, and the visual landscapes on our screens can make real life seem drab and boring. Maintaining our virtual avatar on Facebook often takes precedence over nurturing a healthy relationship with ourselves.

One of the main reasons our minds chatter and skip from past to future is because this process helps us avoid seeing things as they are-often boring, sometimes challenging, always in transition, and ultimately beyond our control. The more we can create distraction in our lives, outside of ourselves, the more we can evade the scary truth of it all: That in about 80 years, not one of the 7 billion people living today will be alive, including our mortal selves.

Being present means waking up from this false dream world of mind chatter, shaking your head and drawing your attention away from two-dimensional media screens and fantastical escapist storylines and settling in to the reality of our body's cellular relationship with the world. That might sound boring, but the gift that lies within the stillness of a daily meditation practice is a chance to feel fearless, to feel connected and loved with no illusions of boundaries. You might find that all the exogenous distraction of your life and the storyline your mind has created to make you feel full and real prevents you from seeing the deeper truth: That you are not permanent, that you are not in full control, that you don't matter to everyone as much as you think you do, that you are vulnerable, and that maybe all of this is completely okay. Meditation can help us see the beauty and fragility of life, calling to mind Achilles' words: "The reason life is so great is precisely because it does end."