The two brown bears that lumbered past our cabin at Lake Tahoe, California, were larger than I’d ever imagined a bear to be. It was twilight, and a steady rain was falling. Jyotish quietly but emphatically said, “Look,” as he pointed out the window: There they were, walking slowly by, not more than fifty feet away. Then, before the bears got out of sight, one of them stopped and shook the rain from his fur like a huge dog. It was thrilling to see them.

We’d come to Tahoe for some relaxation, and were enjoying the stillness and peace of the beautiful lake and woods. The bears were an added treat (although we were grateful that they didn’t see us that way).

It’s helpful to take breaks from time to time to renew and refresh ourselves. Amidst the demands of daily life, it’s too easy to lose inspiration for meditation, and let our practice become mechanical.

“Rust Never Sleeps” is the title of a song that was popular some years ago. It’s a great image to convey the potential erosion of our inspiration and joy by the downward pull of demands and problems around us.

Here are four ways that may help you to keep your meditation practice inspired:

Take time out from your daily schedule to focus on your sadhana. Give yourself the freedom to relax and enjoy your meditation without any time constraints. Maybe you’ll meditate longer, or maybe shorter, but enjoy the freedom of creating your own space to rest in God.

See the techniques of meditation as helpful tools, not as the final experience you’re seeking. An artist uses his paints to capture an image, but the pigments alone don’t create a painting. It’s the personal consciousness of the artist that brings a painting to life. In the same way, try to see your meditation techniques as a medium to explore your own higher consciousness—it’s up to us to give the techniques vitality and life by imbuing them with our own energy.

Feel from the start of your meditation that you’re actually a part of a greater reality, that your own higher consciousness is already one with God. Swami Kriyananda expressed this so beautifully: “The secret of meditation is to pray with deep faith—not as an outsider to heaven, but as one whose true, eternal home is heaven.” Our “true, eternal home” can be as close as a thought away if we stop thinking that we are strangers to it, or that it is far away.

Replace the burden of “I should” meditate with the freedom of “I choose” to meditate. Try to bring a sense of relaxation and joy to your sadhana. Remember that, though regular meditation requires discipline, it is you who have chosen this practice, in order to enhance your life. Rust may never sleep, but the search for inner joy is a part of our own nature that calls to us eternally.

Nayaswami Devi

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