Mornings are a wonderful time to Be in the new, clear energy of the day. On many mornings I enjoy a cup of Chai and precious time with my husband,John, reading aloud to him from authors we cherish, This is a quote from Lewis RIchmond, a Zen Buddhist priest and meditation teacher.
“When I was in rehabilitation after a brain infection, my doctor told me a story about brain plasticity. She said that when mice were taught to run through a maze to find cheese and were later examined, they had grown many new brain neurons. But when they had to swim through water too deep to stand in to find the cheese, the number of new neurons was enormous.
This kind of result has transformed rehabilitation medicine and is instructive for spiritual practice as well. Through the insight gained in spiritual practice, we can change, and when we are facing great challenges, our change can be even greater. In other words… meditation is not just about being relaxed and calm, but about seeing through our problems and difficulties to find a new way. Just as the mice…found a way to the cheese – even under great difficulty – through contemplative reflection we can find our way to new possibilities and solutions to problems.”
