Meditation—focus your mind for calm and clarity

Introduced

• Elements—the energy of grief and healing • Web—the relationships of grief and healing • Hands—the experience of children in grief and healing • Lifelines—the rituals of grief and healing • Wheel—the wisdom of grief and healing

Feel free to use them more than once and to adapt them to your needs.

Throughout the book, you’ll notice the words “To ponder.” These short questions are designed to prompt your thinking about the experience of grief and healing. At times you might choose to write your answers, while at other times you might just reflect on a question over time, allowing it to open new thoughts for you.

Meditation—focus your mind for calm and clarity Meditation is an ancient practise that has been part of personal, cultural, and religious rituals to support reflection, contemplation, and prayer.

There are many techniques and schools of meditation, but they share some common elements:

• Withdrawal from everyday activity for a few moments or for sustained periods

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Introduced

• Stillness, supported by conscious breathing • Gentle observation of thoughts, allowing them to arrive and pass • Intentional focus on desired states such as awareness, peace, serenity, or compassion. When I first began to meditate it gave me small glimpses of a hidden calm between crowding thoughts as I concentrated on my breathing. With practise, those moments began to extend beyond the meditation itself and flow across my life. I no longer struggle to do it the “right way,” but rather notice myself and come back to my breath.

Some aspects of meditation are associated with particular forms of practise and may include:

• Gratitude for blessings

This is a powerful opening of the heart to all those relationships and aspects of life that hold deep meaning for you. As we remember and amplify the blessings in our lives, other less significant aspects assume smaller proportions and even fall away from our conscious mind. • Openness to wisdom and insight

As we elevate our thoughts to the mystery of life and our own existence, we can leave below us those

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everyday worries. Meditation on a question can help us transcend our daily experience, making meaning and shaping our identity. • Spiritual connection with the sacred

Many people meditate to commune with the divine: to unite the eternal part of themselves (soul or spirit) with the universal and sacred consciousness.

This meditation may weave in with other prayer practises. • Patterns in practise at certain times

The cycles of the sun and the moon have shaped many meditation practises, with some people beginning or ending their day with meditation. Others align their practise with the light, marking sunrise, midday, or sunset. Many cultures use meditation and ceremony to signify the new moon and the full moon. • Certain postures, gestures, and chants

Some aspects of meditation are embodied to bring the body into alignment with the intention. This may involve sitting in the lotus position with legs crossed, or lying with arms open, or perhaps positioning hands or using the voice to signify meaning.

In each chapter you’ll find a meditation outline to assist you to focus your mind for calm and clarity:

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