Over time, I noticed that many of my internal reactions softened or disappeared altogether. By watching my mind move from trigger to reaction, and then into unconscious behaviors like addiction, distraction, procrastination, and emotional avoidance, something began to loosen. Patterns I had carried since my youth started to lose their authority. I did not fight them. I watched them. And over time, many simply gave up and fell away.
I can say with certainty that persistent daily practice produces real and lasting benefits. Meditation does not just change what happens when you sit quietly. It changes how you walk through the world. It changes how you react. It changes what controls you.
As self discovery deepens, rigid belief systems and dogmas often lose their grip. This seems to happen naturally when healing becomes the priority rather than being right. There is no judgment here. We all arrive at understanding at different times, and through different doors.
I am humble enough to know that I may discover I have some things completely backward. I may hit another bottom. I may have to surrender again and start over. That does not scare me anymore. Each restart is part of the evolutionary process. Growth is not a straight line.
Every morning, something quiet and profound happens. We wake from sleep having temporarily stepped out of identity. During those hours of rest, we experience a kind of intellectual death. The body regenerates. The mind releases what it no longer needs. Memory loosens. The system resets.
The body and mind are not separate entities. They function as a single thinking organism. Science separates them so we can better understand their mechanisms, but in lived experience they are one. The brain depends on the eyes that feed it, the legs that move it, the lungs that oxygenate it, and the stomach that breaks food down into fuel. Each system communicates constantly. The language of that communication is chemistry.
When we wake, we can choose how to enter the day. We can begin with praise. Gratitude for creation itself. Gratitude for the forces that build, repair, and sustain life. We can pray for peace, justice, and the relief of suffering for all beings. Whether you call this prayer or intention does not matter. What matters is that it produces real chemical changes in the body. Calm, joy, and clarity are biological events.
A friend once asked me if I believe in God. I said yes, if we agree that God is creative force itself, driven toward awareness and expression. I see creation everywhere. I see it in growth, in decay, in repair, and in learning. That is my idea of God right now. Creation noticing itself.
From there, the questions multiply. That is not a problem. We live in a moment where ancient philosophies and modern science are beginning to complement rather than compete with each other. It feels like the early light of a new era of awareness. I see signs of it everywhere. I hear it in younger generations. I feel it in conversations that would not have been possible before.
Whether this wave lasts or not is unknowable. Consciousness evolves in cycles of progress and regression. That has always been true. But improvement matters even if it is temporary.
You and I are on that path now. And it is a wonderful one.