Rebooting isn’t having our boots resoled. It’s a technical term that refers to resetting the operating system on our computer.
For people who spend a lot of time on a computer like I do, sometimes weird stuff starts to happen. The cursor disappears, things don’t load or download, or nothing happens when I click on something.
I am told that’s because the operating system is overloaded, and it takes time for it to sort itself out.
So, we can do a “soft” reboot by hitting “restart,” or we can do a “hard” reboot and turn the computer completely off. By rebooting, we go back to the normal operating system, and things start to work properly. Every problem I have with my laptop is usually sorted out when I reboot.
Rebooting a computer is eerily similar to rebooting ourselves through meditation.
When we meditate, we allow our consciousness to sort itself out, and we can plug back into the “universal operating system” that was “installed” on our DNA. Let’s face it, we are flooded with information every minute of every day. Sometimes we get overloaded and can’t operate or function properly.
When this happens, we get stressed, overwhelmed and depressed. When we are stressed, it’s a sure sign that we need to stop what we’re doing and take a few moments to reboot (a.k.a. meditate).
Stress is an error message on our metaphorical screen telling us to reboot. Stress is also a message that we need to change our lifestyle to start operating at peak proficiency. It’s our access to having a brand new, clean hard drive.
Here are some ways we can change our life to operate more efficiently:
1) Meditate every morning when we wake.
When we meditate immediately after waking, even if it’s for 10 minutes, we transition from the dream world into the physical world more gently. Waking up and jumping into the fray of daily life is jarring for our body and mind. We need to take a few minutes to prepare ourselves for the shift. This is an excellent time to ease from rest and repairing mode to awareness mode by asking how we can be of service today. When we wake up and charge into the physical world, our ego takes over, and fear follows. When we reboot and allow ourselves a conscious start, we have already mastered the day in front of us, and fear does not follow.
Try meditating for five to 10 minutes when you wake up, and ask how you can serve today as you do so.
2) God is the only free psychologist.
When we meditate, we stop our ego mind from over-analyzing and compulsively over-thinking so we can empathize and enjoy our life with compassion and awareness. Basically, when we meditate we are connecting with God, source, universal consciousness, our higher self or whatever we call consciousness. Consciousness is not some esoteric concept; it’s what we experience when we detach from our fear-based mind. When we connect, we feel indescribable joy and happiness. Everyone has a required minimum daily dose of joy. As with vitamins, when we don’t get that minimum dose, our lives start to fall apart and our ego mind fills our thoughts with a sense of unworthiness, failure and being alone in this world.
When we meditate, we immediately feel more positive, rested and calm.
3) Meditation is not Customer Complaint.
God/spirit/consciousness is not our errand boy. We don’t live at Burger King, and we don’t get it our way all the time. Meditation isn’t a time for making demands; it’s a time to shut down and allow our minds to settle and become quiet. When we think about what we want while we meditate, we prevent our systems from rebooting. It’s the same as the error message that comes on the screen when you try to restart that says, “XYZ must be shut down before you can reboot.” We must do the same with out minds. Let’s face it, we are fix-it beings, and our minds want to be busy with doing-ness. When we’re thinking about all the things that make us miserable or stressed and ask for resolution when we try to meditate, there is no meditation. That’s only the daily mad dash to rectify things that have gotten sideways.
Meditation is not the same thing as relaxation. We can be still and relax, but that’s not meditation. Meditation is a brief period of quiet mind.
4) Don’t carry yesterday’s stress into today.
By meditating, we have the opportunity to dump the stress that we brought to bed. When we have an opportunity for a break from stress, we need to take it. When we go long periods of time allowing stress to build in our bodies, the inevitable result is illness and disease. Our bodies are not designed to tolerate stress. As stress is a signal to change that will only get louder and louder if we don’t deal with it, illness and disease are also signals that we have crossed the line into un-wellness.
If we meditate, we can heal faster and prevent stress. Ten minutes each morning is much easier and cheaper than a trip to the hospital.
At this point you’re probably asking what the best way to meditate would be. There are so many ways to meditate, it’s hard to recommend just one. There are guided meditations, mantra or affirmation meditations, where we silently repeat a phrase or word, breathing meditations, where we focus on our breathing and what I call the “In-Between Meditation.”
In the “In-Between Meditation” we focus on the space between thoughts. I find doing this for 10 minutes is particularly beneficial. We can also simply get still and ask “What would you have me do today? What would you have me say today? What would you have me think today?” and then listen. Many times the answer will come through inspiration and ideas. It doesn’t matter who “you” is; ultimately “you” is our higher self.
The parallels between our psyches and computer programming are remarkable. It seems clear to me that the early pioneers in computer science modeled their programs after human thinking. All those idiosyncrasies and quirks in computer programming reflect our human nature.
Give rebooting a try. It’s the ideal default hack for computers and lives.
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