Meditation: A Practice for Peace

Twelve years ago, my life was spinning out of control. My first child was off to college in another state. My father-in-law was dying of leukemia. My husband moved in with his dad. Our home was undergoing renovations. I was homeschooling my autistic son. Though I had been actively religious my entire life, I wasn’t finding the relief I presumed would come through religious observance. The more I tried, the worse things got. Anxiety became an unwelcome but nearly constant companion.

One day while wandering Barnes & Noble, a book called “Real Happiness: A 28 Day Program to Realize the Power of Meditation” by Sharon Salzberg (Workman, 2009) fell off the shelf behind me. I grabbed it. The title spoke to me. I wanted real happiness. I had already tried gratitude lists, venting on the page, journaling and exercise. None of them helped. I had read about meditation, also called mindfulness, as a source of relief during childbirth but nothing more. New words like “mindfulness” and “metta” peppered the introduction. I determined to give it a try.

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