Quelling the Fires in the Mind: A Few Words About Meditation

I was driving to a yoga class the other day, and I was not five minutes away from my destination, when my mind was suddenly seized by the notion that my apartment was--at that moment--on fire. Did I leave the stove on? OMG I left the stove on!!

In addition to the paralyzing alarm I felt, this stunning thought was accompanied by visions of fire engines and smoke pouring out of windows. There, too, I saw my friend, my landlord, as he watched his building go up in flames. In my mind, these nightmarish scenes were all there circling, prodding me to turn my car around to race back to my apartment and verify or dispel this vision.

Then, just as suddenly, this mind storm was swept away, replaced by a focus on my immediate world: on my driving, on the music I was listening to, on the three boys walking on the sidewalk, one on a scooter, moving at a hurried but merry pace. Something inside compelled me to turn away those thoughts and bring myself into the present, to the place inside my dusty, paper-strewn car, looking out through a dirt-streaked window at the many everyday images passing by as I drove. (More)

Source: The St Louis Examiner