My friend got me into the habit of calming my mind when needed when I was depressed, and it helped. And now that I'm dealing with some "did I pick the right major" and "what is the point of life" issues, I decided it's a habit worth keeping for longer than a few days.
She's being very supportive about it and told me she will help me figure out a way to calm my mind - because whenever I finally let go of thoughts, some wild idea appears in my head, getting me back to first base as clearing my mind goes.
Oh, and for the record, a disclaimer before I get attacked by the possible wild haters: this is in no way religion-related. The said friend isn't religious and I am, but "my" Christianity is more of a prayer than a meditation type deal (which I don't find right - listening and speaking should be just about evenly distributed, even when talking to God - or a god, or just yourself - don't you think?).
But moving on... She isn't in any way a spiritual coach and she doesn't "qualify" as a guru in her opinion, but I'm a difficult person as starting to trust someone goes. So she might not be a guru by your standards, but to me she is.
A guru (Sanskrit: गुरु) is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others (teacher). Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects (books) and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the aforementioned are in a guidance role. [[ from Wikipedia ]]Basically, what we are going to do is each day for the first week, I will get either a quote or an idea or an article or something to think about. I'll get it at six in the morning, which is when I'm to wake up, check my email and start meditating... For an hour. And then another thirty minutes to an hour before I go to sleep.
Compared to ashrams in India, that's not much at all. And seeing as it's supposed to be shock therapy of clearing my mind of negative things, I'm all for it.
And since she isn't a theist, I'll be safe from any influences from other religions to make me even more unsure of what I believe in. Because in the last few years, my spirituality has been at least slightly messed up to say the least.
But enough of this for today, I still have an hour of meditation to do. Toodles!
