Practice: A Few Seconds a Day | iHanuman

iHanuman

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Practice: A Few Seconds a Day

Here's an almost effortless practice that will definitely change your life for the better if you are willing to commit just ten to twenty seconds a day to it. But first, a little background about how the brain works.
In his book Addiction and Grace, Dr. Gerald May discusses how the human brain works and he gives us sympathy for how easy it is to form habits and addictions. One example he gives is that if we go to supper just three nights in a row and do the same thing - something meaningless, like grab our cup with our right hand and place it at the nine o'clock position at our plate - if we do this as a ritual even three times, and then the fourth night we deliberately do it differently, it's going to bother us. After merely three repetitions of a trivial act, the brain has already imprinted the behavior as being natural, as being the "right" place for that cup to be. The brain has already formed chemical synapses between the nerve endings that make us feel the cup should be placed at nine o'clock!
So we can also make this process of "imprinting" work in our favor. The moment we realize we are awake - I don't mean after getting up and going to the bathroom, or after lying there thinking of all sorts of things; I mean the first moment we realize "I'm awake..." - the brain is in a very raw and open state and can imprint things very deeply. So in those first few seconds of "awakeness" every day, say a prayer or state an intention that reflects your spiritual path. Something like, "Lord, may I be less selfish today than I was yesterday."
Or, "Lord, I dedicate my life to others today; please show me how, all through the day."
Or, "I commit my every thought, word and deed to the greatest good today. May I cause no harm."
It takes fewer than five seconds to say one of the thoughts above. And then you lay there for another ten seconds or so to let it sink in. The brain very powerfully imprints this thought as your first identity of every day. All through the day it will come back to you and challenge you and remind you of your spiritual intentions. Before you are busy being a man or woman, convict or citizen, young or old, black or white or other, before you even know your name each morning, you have imprinted a profound spiritual thought into your brain; you have declared your primary identity as a spiritual seeker. Believe me, it will make a difference in your life.
And it only takes a few seconds. There is no one, anywhere, who does not have the time to do this practice. Every one of us wakes up every day and stays in bed a few seconds as we realize we are awake. It doesn't take long to train ourselves to do this practice; it'll come automatically after the first week or two. The only requirement on our part is to commit to doing this every day for the rest of our lives. That's how the brain will imprint these intentions and prayers the most deeply. If you call yourself a spiritual seeker at all, then is it unreasonable to require yourself to begin each day with a simple, effortless reminder of that?
The prayer or intention should be simple, fewer than 20-25 words, something a child can understand. And it should be the same words every day for at least a few months at a time in order for the brain to imprint it deeply. Don't lie in bed and start thinking of what to say; that gets the mind too involved and active. Choose the words in advance and stick with the same ones for a few months or longer, until you are guided to change or alter them.
Many people say meditation takes too much time or is too difficult or they have no place to practice it. But no one and nothing can prevent you from spending a few seconds doing this simple practice when you first wake up. There is no environment, no external force, that can prevent you from doing this. And although it is simple and almost effortless, it will change your life. One more wrinkle you can throw in is to end your day with the same sort of practice: Lying on your pillow waiting to go to sleep, you just check out the same way you checked in: "Lord, may I be less selfish tomorrow than I was today...."
Beginning and ending each day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, with our spiritual nature, is one good way to begin to understand "Be in the world, but not of it." Give it a try!

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