On January 11th, 2016, I started a daily practice of writing a joke meditation of the day called Cracked Pot Meditations. I was still recovering from the treatment of cancer, and I was having very challenging cognitive issues, so I chose just to put something simple and easy to write every day. Posting it to the blog allowed me to have some accountability. Some of those meditations were poorly written and unedited. I have gone back and begun editing these and adding an illustration, starting with the April 27th meditation. I hope you enjoy.
Meditation for June 21st
Safe Places
Finding a safe place, either in your head or an actual location, is a great way to work out stress and other negative emotions. Some people meditate by picturing a perfect, comfortable place and trying to imagine being there. Some people create whole worlds inside their minds where they can just be and not worry about the real world for a few minutes. Some people go on annual vacations to a place where they can recharge.
Sacred or safe places have been a human haven since modern man began. Man has created places to worship Gods and nature and to ask for help with crops and fertility. Men have built cathedrals, shrines, temples, rock circles, and other structures to house our need for a deeper connection beyond the material plane.
Joseph Campbell, who was George Lucas’s inspiration for Jar Jar Binks, says,
“[Sacred space] is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.
Our life has become so economic and practical in its orientation that, as you get older, the claims of the moment upon you are so great, you hardly know where the hell you are, or what it is you intended. You are always doing something that is required of you. Where is your bliss station? You have to try to find it.”
What is a safe place?
Well, sorry to say, there is no such place. Even if you are deep inside your head using your imagination to create some fantasy place for you to float through, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to attack. If you like going to a tropical paradise, you will find yourself getting kidnapped and murdered. Nowhere is safe.
No, sadly, you won’t find a safe place anywhere. No matter how much you find solace and peace somewhere, real or imagined, the real world is right there, ready to hurt you. Finding a connection to our inner self and the strength to fortify our spiritual armor is hard.
Now, try going to a brave place rather than a safe place. Face the problems you have in the moment with bravery rather than trying to escape to a safe place. You won’t be safe long because whatever is driving you to the safe place is waiting for you to come out of the safe place. A brave place faces challenges in our lives with some inner work. From temples and shrines, we come to therapy offices.
Take the shortcut and just be brave. Be brave, stand up for yourself, and face what is stressing you out. A brave place is right where you are. A safe place is just retreating.
Prayer
Uluru-Kata Tjuta,
Sacred place of long-dead ancestors,
Instead of staying on those rocks,
Why don’t you come out of those beautiful rocks?
And be a little helpful,
And help me be braver.
Bodh Gaya,
Help me find enlightenment,
To solve my problems,
Don’t just be a long-dead tree,
Under a shrine lit up for tourists,
But be in my soul,
Guiding me in my times of stress and anxiety.
Cenote Sagrado,
Help cleanse me of my confusion,
With your baptismal waters,
In the shadow of paradise,
Clean me of fear,
So that I can be fearless.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque,
Help me be a strong building,
Like your blue walls in Turkey,
So I can take the onslaught of stress and depression,
So I can survive the long nights.
Mount Kailash,
The four-way intersection of four spiritual practices,
Help me learn all the ways to overcome my baffled self,
Teach me all the ways I can let go of the shit,
And change the things I can to get on.
Mount Sinai,
Be a burning bush again,
And give me the truths of the world,
Stop me from worshipping false idols,
Like quick fixes and materialistic Band-Aids,
Give me the commandments,
So I can be clear of what I have to do.
Glasonbury Tor,
The coffins of Arthur and Guinevere,
Lovers who lived a rocky relationship,
But died in love,
Or is it the home of the Holy Grail?
I need myth and mystery to get me over the fear of the unknown,
And teach me bravery and faith.
Vortexes,
Let me get over my logic,
And bask in the unknown,
Feel fake energies wash over me,
So I can finally have the strength,
To face whatever ails me.
Mecca,
Instead of you having millions of pilgrims flock to you,
You face many times a day,
Why don’t you come to me with your giant rock?
And share with me the dead Gods your prophet knocked over,
So I can decide on what kind of strength I need,
To heal and be strong in your deserts.
Jerusalem,
Where Giants walked,
The holiest of temples built,
And blood is spilled to be the right Temple,
And a temple is promised to some in the stars.
Be my temple in my mind,
Where can I find the right Giant?
To battle with me,
For me,
So I can be the Beloved King David,
Amen.
Craft
Here are some ways you can make a safe place:
Find a place that is comforting to you. What is it about that place that is comforting? Is it the environment? Is it the nostalgia? Figure out the things that make the place special to you.
Visualize the place. Find a quiet time and remember all the things you have decided you like. Note the small details. Remember to breathe.
You can also visualize a place you have never been to. Try to visualize what you know of the place. You can think of all the things you know about the place and imagine it. Now go to the coworker’s bedroom that you visualized and see how correct you are.
Create a new world. Do you like fantasy books, comic books, and or roleplaying games? Well, since you can’t use sex to escape your stress, you can create whole new worlds.
You can combine a little of all these things and build a Mind Palace. This involves combining places, sensory experiences, people you love, people you admire, and pieces of art and architecture. Cannibalistic psychiatrists usually use this technique when facing possible prison time.
Goal
Stop escaping your problems and be brave. Time and bravery get us through all the tough times, while escape just holds off the inevitable.