we are expecting of ourselves and expecting from the meditation period itself. Perhaps a more modest and simplistic set of expectation will allow us to keep the positive habit going. It is important to make that inward, meditative connection, even if it is just for a short amount of time daily.
If you’re already a regular meditator, or even an occasional one, you know the calming, centering impact of this spiritual discipline. But the idea of very short meditation sessions may push some of your alarm buttons. You might find yourself protesting that there are no shortcuts to inner growth. In a world of fast foods and convenience stores, surely spiritual development won’t succumb to modern impatience, too! Didn’t Edgar Cayce frequently prescribe patience and continually emphasize that it was only by slow, steady effort that one progresses to higher states of consciousness?
Patience is crucial, but the idea of making spiritual connections in as brief a time as three minutes doesn’t necessarily imply shortcuts. The path to enlightenment takes years of dedication, and there are no tricks. However, the idea of condensing your meditation time is based on a basic concept—simply that living in a hectic world doesn’t mean you have to give up your meditation life. Positive effects can be achieved from relatively brief times of focused silence—perhaps much briefer than you would have anticipated.
Cayce’s suggestions to some people about the positive habit of meditation indicate that maybe as little as three minutes is all the investment of time you have to make, at least to keep the momentum going each day. Some day—maybe many days—you might find it possible to have those fifteen- or thirty-minute meditation periods, the timeframe that many people have discovered is necessary to make the deepest kind of inner connection. And if you have already found a way to set aside those more lengthy periods daily for meditation, then you’ll want to keep up that invaluable discipline. These mini-meditations are not meant to replace the more lengthy ones. But for you, an additional three-minute meditation—strategically timed for a moment in your hectic day when you need to disengage from the stress—can work wonders. In fact, one research study done with several hundred meditators—experienced and inexperienced—reached an important conclusion. The researchers discovered that those who got the best results from Cayce’s recommendation for miniature meditation periods were the people who already had going a regular meditation discipline of fifteen to thirty minutes daily. The novice meditators had significant success, too; but not as dramatic as those who were already experienced meditators.
Consider just how reasonable it really is to find those three minutes daily for this crucial recentering habit. Aren’t there frequent instances daily when you waste three minutes or spend that amount of time superficially—reading a mindless article, watching a little more television than is necessary, complaining about how you were mistreated earlier in the day. What happens if you remember that you have an option for how to spend that time and creative energy? As an alternative, you can find a spot to yourself, close your eyes and quiet down, and then make a connection to your more authentic self.
It boils down to developing the habit to take three minutes out of a hectic or confusing day and to refocus on what’s best within you. Maybe that means taking three minutes before breakfast; or perhaps, three minutes in the middle of the afternoon. In fact, it doesn’t even need to be at the same time each day. Find the time that is best for you each day. For some people the tip off that it’s time for such a mini-meditation is when they begin to feel the high stress of what’s going on around them. The need becomes acute for a spiritual refresher. Other people have found that the most can be gained once the day is nearly done and they have had time to unwind.
If you feel ready to give this positive habit a try, don’t become too consumed with the mechanics. For example, don’t become obsessed with whether or not you log precisely three minutes. It may be two or three or four—whatever feels spirit-led that day. The point is to realize that you can make a connection to your spiritual source in a relatively short amount of time. What’s important is that you give it a try and that you attempt to build it into your lifestyle as a positive habit.
THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF MEDITATION
Meditation is listening to the divine within. It is like an oasis of peace in the midst of hectic schedules and worrisome responsibilities. In those few minutes of daily quiet, it’s possible to keep yourself centered and tranquil. You can connect directly with a higher consciousness that lives within you, and that momentary connection can have effects that last all day long.
But anyone who has tried to keep a regular meditation discipline knows that it doesn’t always work quite as well as expected. There are days when you may get up from your meditation session and feel no more peaceful than you did when you sat down. What’s gone wrong on days like that?
The trouble is most likely a misunderstanding about the very purpose of meditation. The fault may lie with our attitude about what we’re trying to accomplish. If you carry into meditation the familiar mind-set of daily living, then the results from your meditation will probably be frustrating. Consider what happens when you try to transplant into your meditation period the competitive, acquisitive approach that usually characterizes modern life. It doesn’t work.
What is it about this familiar approach to life that makes it so ill-suited for meditation? Throughout most of our waking hours we’re striving—even straining—to reach goals and accomplish tasks. We’re attempting to acquire things, such as physical possessions or people’s approval. Often our efforts are tinged with competition as we try to prove ourselves. Simply put, we’re trying to get something.
But what happens if you attempt to carry that approach with you into meditation? For example, what’s bound to occur if you try “to get peace” through meditation the same way you try to earn the boss’s approval at work or complete a trip to the grocery store in less than an hour? It backfires. That straining, acquisitive attitude is the very opposite of authentic meditation. At this point you’ve lost touch with the real purpose of meditation. Without realizing it, your meditation life can turn into an extension of your daily life. It’s a subtle thing, but that’s probably the reason many people go through dry spells in which meditation just doesn’t seem to work for them anymore.
Watch what can happen if “relieving stress” or “acquiring peace” has become the goal of meditation just like all the other goals of material life. You sit down for your quiet time and you already have in mind what you want: peace of mind. It’s now become a commodity, just like a loaf of bread from the store or a larger return on your stock investment. It’s something you want, and now you’re going to use a technique to get it. Concentrating very hard on a series of words or a symbol, you go on the hunt. You’re stalking peace. It’s hiding somewhere in the fortress of your inner mind. And you imagine that the power of your concentration will track it down. Starting off such a meditation period, you feel sure that within a few minutes peace will belong to you. But sad to say, after a while, you’ll find yourself getting up from your meditation spot in frustration or dissatisfaction because you’re no closer to peace.
So, what will work? What’s the right understanding of purpose that can relieve stress and bring peace of mind? The key is simple: giving rather than getting. It’s a matter of surrendering yourself. First surrendering your worries. Being willing to give up your expectations, and not expecting to get anything—not even peace. The whole purpose of this meditation session is to give.
Sitting down for your quiet period—whether it’s to be three minutes or thirty—you choose a symbol or, better yet, a few words that capture the essence of your own highest value in life—what Cayce called a spiritual ideal. When you use a few carefully chosen words for your focal point, Cayce referred to it as an “affirmation.” The role of those words is simply to help you open your feelings to something bigger than yourself. You’re not out to get something; instead, you’re offering yourself to God. “Here I am. I give up … my fears … my
