Meditation continued

Meditation has other benefits. It is almost impossible to fully focus on two things at once and a mind that is completely absorbed in the feeling of each breathe, or in the vibrations of a chant cannot also be focused on its own troubles or unhappiness.

Meditation will not fix the cause of our problems but it can help us to adjust our own attitudes and responses. As Sri Swami Venkatesananda said, “A problem that is forgotten does not exist, unhappiness that is forgotten is happiness. It can come back again, but never mind.” A person who is unhappy all day but who takes 20 minutes to meditate and clear his mind will find that for those 20 minutes at least, his unhappiness is gone. “That is marvelous; the unhappiness was a mental state, nothing more than a mood.”