Sometimes life feels like a rollercoaster. We have joy. Then we have sadness. But joy is certain to come again. It can seem that we are simply puppets, buffeted back and forth by all the changes. Yet, yoga provides great tools to help us stay steady, calm and peaceful during times of celebration and times of sadness. One of those great tools is meditation.

There was once a great and mighty king who had all the riches in the world. Nothing was beyond him in the physical sense; yet the king was unhappy. He realized that he could be happy for a short time by acquiring land, jewels, food, or drink; but his happiness always faded. He summoned all the healers, priests, and even jesters to help make him happy. Many people came to offer their suggestions, tricks, and charms. Nothing seemed to bring him the permanent happiness he wanted.

After weeks of exhausting interviews, a small, humble woman appeared before the king. He glanced at her with scorn.

“What could you possibly offer me that all the other great men and women could not?” the king asked. The woman held out a velvet box. The ruler looked at the box and laughed. “You offer this great king jewels? Ha! I have the most precious jewels in the world. I don’t need any more. “

“Excuse me, Your Majesty, but this is by far the most precious jewel. This can lighten all your sorrows and bring happiness into a troubled time.”

The king’s curiosity was piqued, so he took the box. Slowly he opened it and found a plain gold ring inside. “What is this? A plain gold ring!” he yelled and started to throw it away.

“Please, Your Majesty, read the inscription. Read it now and each time you are feeling happy or sad.”

The king read the inscription and read it again. Slowly he found himself relaxing on his throne for the first time in many years. The inscription: AND THIS TOO SHALL PASS.

Good, bad, happy, sad—all will pass. One of my clients actually gave me a stained glass with the inscription “This, too, shall pass.” I hung it over the desk in my office as a constant reminder.

By practicing meditation, we achieve a distancing from the constantly turning wheel of happiness and unhappiness. Life is like that—constantly changing: joy, sorrow, good fortune, great loss, and so on. If we don’t have connection to our center, to our true self, we are constantly tossed up and down by those natural changes. Meditation takes us literally into our center, into our spirit, into ourselves, into who we are. That’s the purpose of meditation to remind us to go back to our origin.

Meditation is not something that we do. We use techniques to get us to the point of meditation or stillness. Once we get to that point we are no longer doing, we just are. And when we reach that state, we stay balanced through the roller coaster ride of life’s ups and downs.

Namaste. ❤

❤ Story from The Healing Path of Yoga by Nischala Joy Devi

❤ Article: Meditation-A Tool for Total Transformation

❤ Healing with the Chakras Meditation – CD or Digital Download

Featured Photo, A Ring for a King: Prakasha Shakti | ©Abundant WellBeing