Be Human, Not A Zombie

A simple meditation exercise to work on alertness.

Find a field with dandelions near your home.  Preferably somewhere where there aren’t too many people walking.  A small soccer field usually works well.

Look for a good spot where there is an individual dandelion growing and sit one foot away from it (in a meditation posture or just sit however is comfortable for you)

Set a timer for 15 minutes (increase time as you progress)

Then focus all your attention on this flower.  Do not let anything break your concentration with it.

You will hear sounds of maybe cars, maybe people, maybe birds, whatever is there just let it be, but continue to be focused on just the flower.

If you are just a beginner in meditation than just being able to stay there for 15 minutes without being distracted by what is around you will be a good step.

If you have already been meditating for some time, the next step will be to try to do the same thing as mentioned above but also now as you are focused on this yellow piece of life to be aware of all the thoughts that come in about any subject whatsoever.

The key is to stay alert to the fundamentals of what is there at this moment and that is all.

Let go of anything that you think about this flower and even that it is a flower that you are looking at.  Just be there with whatever that is there, no need to call it anything, but to just be. Let thoughts come and go, just as one would do with a wind gust.

If you can maintain a high level of alertness to everything that is going on, yet at the same time be totally focused on this piece of life, you will see that after the 15 minutes is over you will notice something.  You will experience a shift in consciousness.  There will be a greater aliveness, the connection to life will be felt at a much deeper level.  This is because you will once again touch the nothing where everything comes out of.

Practice this daily, it’s powerful.