Step 9 in the Beginner’s Guide To Meditation series.
What do you receive? How are you influenced by the people, the places, the things that are around you?
The direction of ‘what you receive’ is associated with your left side. When I’m meditating on this and thinking about ‘what I receive’, I’m engaging with imagination the way that we did for the other directions meditations — what is in front of you and what is behind you. My eyes are closed, but I’m imagining opening that window to the left as I ask the question.
This direction in the meditation is about inviting in a recognition of the influences that shape you from the different experiences you might have. With this prompt, ‘what do you receive’, I’m inviting you to explore the full scope of the phenomenology of your inner experience.
Whatever sensory experience you have on the outside, there’s one that maps to it on the inside. If I were to ask you to ‘picture the branches of a tree blowing in the breeze’, you would see that on the inside. If I were to ask you to, ‘imagine the smell of blueberry muffins and coffee roasting in the morning’, you would smell that on the inside. Strange that we can do that, isn’t it?
On the inside are all of the senses that you experience on the outside, but they live in the realm of your imagination. They provide for you an instrument that helps you understand how you’re being influenced by different the vibrations of your life — all that moves you.
When you close your eyes and go into this meditation to you ask the question, ‘what do I receive?’ you’re inviting information from your unconscious self to speak in the language of these inner senses. When you do, notice not just what thoughts, memories or ideas arise in your head, but notice what images flash in your inner vision, what sensations you feel on your skin, or what songs might pop into your head like an ear worm. You might even smell some things or feel emotions that come up. It’s all your present experience of this inner world as shaped by prior experiences in the outer. Give your inner feelings a little bit more attention, give them a little bit more belief.
You’ve got nine minutes to sit with this meditation. Again, when you ask that question, ‘what do I receive?’ it’s an invitation. That’s all these questions are: invitations. Ask yourself what you believe and see what arises.
What do you receive?
