How Meditation is About Direct Knowing

Meditation for me has never been about becoming more spiritual. For me, it’s about being able to just be present. In a world of incessant distractions, enticing us into a future we imagine will somehow be “better,” or a past we’re convinced we’d be happier to return to, it’s an act of love for ourselves to harness our attention in the one place where change can actually happen: now.

We often know the answers to the questions we’re seeking. Fear creates this static, white noise and this jittery, frenetic energy that makes us think we can: (a) find the answer outside of us, and (b) find the answer with the mind. The answer, however, in my experience, doesn’t come from a thought; it comes from a direct knowing. And we have access to that knowing, from the Greek gnosis, if we can get still and quiet enough to listen.

Start by taking a deep breath, and with this breath set the intention to go inward. Imagine this space within however you want to—a cathedral with light-drenched, stained-glass windows, a disco ball hanging above a dance floor casting light diamonds everywhere as it spins, a little red raft on a warm, calm ocean that feels like the most dependable thing that has ever existed.

Then, when you’re there (and by there I mean you’re fully present within you), take a second breath. And with this second breath set the intention of meeting with your soul, and if the word soul doesn’t resonate with you – your true self, or just love itself. And if you’re afraid to meet with love (who isn’t), then just intend to meet with your voice. The most authentic one.

The one you had at some point in your life, like when you wore a cape at age seven, or when you stood up to that bully on the playground in middle school, or when you told that first crush how you actually felt, or when you said that first no to someone you had wanted to impress, or when you said that first yes even though you feared others would judge you. That voice. Take your second intentional breath and imagine inhaling that voice like it’s your long-lost beloved. Because it is.

Now, together, when you and this soul-voice are walking arm in arm in your imagination, or floating together on a little red raft on the calmest seas that have never existed, then ask. Ask anything and everything. And here’s the most important thing ever: believe it.

Believe this voice you hear inside you so much that you are willing to act on it. Believe in this voice. Believe in you.

And then, before taking the third breath, start to give gratitude. Say thank-yous like throwing confetti at a wedding. Thank everything and anything that might have come to you. Because what we ask inwardly, we find. Because as daunting as it is to experience, we contain our own answers. And as powerful as it is to practice, it’s also a responsibility.

After the third breath, open your eyes. There’s nothing more radical or revolutionary than doing this every day. Because there’s nothing more empowering than to dare to be fully embodied.

With only more love,
​M.