Fellow Toastmasters and guests—by a show of hands, how many of you have tried meditation? I see quite a few. Maybe you were asked to plant your feet on the floor, rest your hands in your lap, and close your eyes. A calm voice said, “Breathe in… breathe out…”
But what you may not have ever had explained to you… is the purpose for that. Why do we focus on our breathing? One reason—obvious to some—is that it’s an attempt to quiet the mind… but the real purpose—and what the meditation is really trying to get you to do… is to stop thinking.
You may not realize that most of your thinking is completely repetitive. Up to 98% of your thoughts are the same thoughts over and over. These thoughts are conditioned from birth—shaped by culture, family, schooling, religion, and so on. And it’s through these conditioned thoughts that we judge and experience the world around us. These experiences then become part of your story, but they’re often negative. How do I know this? Because everyone’s story is problematic. And let’s talk about that.
You have a past—things that happened to you, both good and bad. You have a future—things you hope for, or fear might happen. But these things, past and future, don’t actually exist. They’re mind structures. No one has ever been to the past, except in the present moment as a memory. And no one has ever touched the future—you can’t. Past and future exist only in your thoughts.
So your mind consists of:
• Your conditioned thoughts—shaped from birth;
• These mind movements of past and future, accompanied by some emotions.
But you, as a person, are more than that.
Picture the ocean. Your personality—your identity, your story—is like the surface of the ocean: it changes shape with the wind, the waves. But you are not just the surface. You are the ocean. And this means that you are not your story. You are more. And if you let that sink in, you might sense the truth of it.
Not all thinking is bad, mind you. Some wonderful things happen while thinking—look at all the human race has accomplished in the world of form, all the scientific achievements. And there is value to learning new things and having new experiences. But when your entire sense of self exists solely in these repetitive mind structures—past and future—repetitive thoughts associated with a story that is centered on lack and predominantly negative—you become trapped in a world where who you are is never quite enough. Always needing to add more to me to be more fully… me.
Do they have more than me? I also want more. Do they know more than me? Or do I?
Many people live their entire lives this way, never realizing that there is something more to them if they can just step into the present moment.
You might ask, “How do I do that? How do I stop thinking past and future and about my story and free myself by becoming more fully present? How do I stop thinking?”
Truth is, you’ve done it already—perhaps without realizing it. Consider the last time you held a baby in your arms… looked into that tiny face… sensed its aliveness. In that moment, you weren’t thinking about your problems. You were present. Dogs have a way of bringing you into the present moment. A dog isn’t worried about yesterday or tomorrow. A dog is here. Alive. Take me for a walk! Nature and sports can bring us into the present moment. When I’m on the soccer field, I’m not thinking about what happened at work yesterday or what I’m going to eat later. In the moment, my focus is on: “Pass me the ball! I’m over here!”
And in that space, I’m free—free from judgment, free from comparing myself to others, free from the chatter that says, “I’m not good enough… He’s better than me… She has more than me.” All of that falls away.
And this, fellow Toastmasters and Guests, is the purpose of meditation and what it’s trying to help you to do. And there’s good news—you don’t need a voice-guided prompt. You don’t even need to close your eyes. You don’t have to wait. You can be driving in your car—just look up at the sky. The sky is a beautiful way to connect with that spacious part of yourself… something bigger than your “I.”
That’s my invitation to you.
When you get home tonight, take a moment to close your eyes and focus on your body. With your eyes closed, you can still sense your hands and feet. You can smell, feel the air on your skin.
This is why breathing is emphasized in meditation: it brings your awareness into your body. Into now. So this week, I invite you to try it once every day. To stop, breathe, and go deeper than the surface of your story. Experience—even for a breath—the freedom of being present.
Thank you.