Meditation
has two major part first is stopping and calming. Stopping, the art of stopping
as stated In “The Heart of Buddha’s Teaching” page 24 is “stopping out
thinking, our habit energies, our forgetfulness, and the strong emotions that
rule us.” If we live our lives without stopping every once in a while everything
becomes a habit. We do not recognize we are doing them. Things come and go our
emotions change but we are never really living. Calming sometimes our emotions
can take over our bodies and leave us to live a roller coaster ride. If we recognize
why we aren't calm it will allow us to then accept the reasons and then to
embrace them, which then leads to looking deeply. If we are at a state of
calmness you can then look deeply to understand what has brought you this
suffering and change it. Until you figure out what has brought you this
discomfort you cannot change it.
In my
life I can think of many different times I should have done this. First, I have
a huge final on Thursday. This final has been causing me stress for weeks. By recognizing
this stress and where it is coming from, I can then start preparing for this
exam and maybe decrease my amount or stress just a little. While looking deeply
I see there is no way I can get rid of the test I just have to make sure that I
am prepared fully and that I did everything I could. Second, my dog has
recently become ill. She is old and may not make it through the winter. This is
causing me deep pain because I have had this dog in my life since I was little.
But if I take a second to think about it and realize that she is suffering too
and maybe the best thing is for her to pass so she is not in pain then I can accept
it because I don’t want her to be in pain. 
Citation:
Nhá̂t, Hạnh. The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy & Liberation.
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