When things turn incendiary, and the world burns up around us, I find it wise to step away from the fire, and hold the world in the single flame of a candle. In that one source of light is the focal point of an evening’s meditation. Andy used to do a candle meditation, where he would stare intently at a candle for a while, then lose his eyes and work to picture the candle in his mind. It was another exercise of focus and concentration, of using an object to hold the attention and train the mind to forego all other distracting thoughts.
There will always be nagging distractions competing for notice. They are not easily banished or relegated to the back of the mind. The goal is to quell them for a moment, and to discover the peace when they are held in such abeyance. When you feel that, when you develop the knack to breathe deeply and slowly into the moment, letting the distractions and worries go, you find the magic of mindfulness. If you consistently focus on finding that, the rest of life feels a little calmer, a little less manic. And if you make it a practice that informs most of your day, life can be quite pleasant indeed.
