I just finished a two-session meditation course, and it was fantastic.  The instructor had, over 20 years of practice, transformed himself from an over-wired, Type-A activity and stress “machine” to a person who speaks and thinks calmly and deliberately, puts life’s annoyances in their proper perspective, and is truly mindful of the joys of the present. He’s more sensitive, productive and happy than he was in his former guise, when his mind would be racing at all hours and he’d be waking up throughout the night jotting sleep-destroying thoughts and ideas down on a bedside notebook.  Guess what? he said.  All those 3 am brainstorms were not the earth-shattering ideas he had taken them to be at the time.  His best thoughts come now, because he allows the machine to shut down and reboot. [Read more…]