The Gap. It’s not just at the mall… no, it’s also the place that is the silence between your thoughts… a place few, if any, of us even know exists, let alone visit.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Meditation can be the path that allows us a way in which to access this space. It is a space of compassion, surrender and peace. Consider your thoughts. They are of the past and of the future. Active, energetic, and largely unaware. It is in the space between those thoughts where the present- awareness- lies and as long as we remain disconnected from that space, we exist disconnected from the present… and ultimately, true contentment.
Learning to meditate, and making it a regular part of one’s day, allows you to practice presence- awareness. However, it’s not merely a function of sitting in quiet. It’s more than that… more work, to be honest! To simply sit in quiet often invites the monkeys to come to play… say, the Wickersham brothers on ‘roids, where you are sure to wish each of them a pleasant, ‘good day’, perhaps take an occasional do-si-do, as they pass through (some days, seemingly on loop)… ummm… OK, maybe that’s just me!
Meditation involves the conscious witness of thoughts, emotions, sensations… and those determined monkeys… without the burden of judgement and expectations- the functions of inhabiting other than the present. A quieting of that pesky monkey mind. As a practice is developed, the silence that becomes more readily known between these moments of witness is what is referred to as The Gap. It is the moments spent in The Gap that allow us a sense of oneness and connection through a direct experience with silence, or the present, tremendously healing for mind, body and soul.
Think about it… silence is always there. We just have to be aware enough to experience it.
Perhaps for a little more insight into the process, I’ll let Dr. Wayne Dyer, a huge proponent of meditation, offer an example. He utilizes the first part of The Lord’s Prayer in this audio, but for your own purposes, replace it with any simple- and inspiring- mantra.
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