The Misunderstandings Around Meditation
Meditation has long been held up as the gold standard for spiritual connection. Many people find it calming, restorative, and even life-changing which makes it a powerful routine that many enjoy. A meditation practice can be a profound way to quiet your mind and strengthen your connection with Divinity.
The caveat to that, which most of the faithful to meditation overlook, is that meditation by itself is not the ultimate end goal. It is a tool to help facilitate calmness of mind and the quiet necessary to discern your inner wisdom (also known as intuition or divine guidance).
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Meditation Is a Starting Point, Not the Finish Line
One of the most common misconceptions is that a spiritual connection can only be experienced in quiet isolation. It is true that meditation can assist in opening you for intuitive downloads. But divine guidance in the form of your personal intuition and inner wisdom, is meant to guide you throughout your day and not just be experienced in silence.
Most people who gain intuitive clarity during meditation, presumably lose access to it when they move on with their daily life. That is not how your divine guidance or inner wisdom is supposed to work. The goal is to carry that intuitive awareness into every conversation, business decision, and family interaction. Meditation helps you develop this skill in the beginning stages, and then you are meant to generalize and integrate it into your days. You actually never lose access to your inner wisdom. It merely involves strengthening your awareness of it when you are not sitting in silence. This is a habit that you can create by setting the intention to broaden your spiritual awareness.
Why Isolation Does Not Serve Humanity
Another distortion about meditation is the glorification of monks or spiritual leaders who spend decades meditating in complete isolation. While their devotion is admirable, it is not helpful to humanity to stay isolated from others.
We each have a unique purpose in life, and every purpose shares one common thread. Through it we are meant to contribute to others in a meaningful way. Divine guidance will guide each of us as we navigate life and our daily decisions and circumstances, if we seek it. Your intuition will point you toward relationships, goals, daily actions and decisions that will lead to your most joyful and fulfilled life as you contribute to others.
Praying for positive change will not make it happen on its own. We are never alone however, and Divinity will guide us in our actions. With our inner wisdom working through us, we can co-create real transformation.
Raising Consciousness Requires More Than Meditation
A third misunderstanding is the idea that meditation will raise your frequency and your consciousness. While meditation can calm your nervous system and make space for clarity, it is not the mechanism that lifts your vibration.
Consciousness expands when you connect with your divine aspect—your intuition or inner wisdom. We must work to intentionally raise our frequency first, and then your inner wisdom will help to raise your consciousness and this can be done with or without the benefit of meditation.
How to Expand Your Spiritual Practice Beyond Meditation
If meditation works for you, you will be well served to keep it as part of your spiritual routine. Everyone is different however, and you will not miss out on anything if you choose to develop your inner wisdom in another way.
If you use meditation, be sure that you do not stop there. It can be your foundation or starting point. To expand on this you will want to:
- Practice tuning in throughout your day. Take a breath to focus internally throughout your busy day and ask your inner wisdom for guidance on anything that is on your mind.
- Learn to trust your intuition. This is a skill. The more you practice recognizing and following your guidance, the more confident you will be in trusting it.
- Follow the guidance you receive. Inner wisdom is meant to guide you which cannot happen if you choose to ignore it.
The Next Step Is Within You
If this perspective feels new or even challenging, sit with it. Let it settle. Most importantly, check in with your inner wisdom and see what rings true. Meditation is valuable, but it is not the full picture. A deeper relationship with Divinity will come when you allow divine guidance to flow through you into every moment, every choice you make and every interaction you have.
Applying your inner wisdom into your ongoing decisions and actions is the true purpose of a spiritual practice.
