Meditation is a companion to have throughout life, like a best friend we turn to when things get hard to deal with and we are in need of inspiration, clarity, and even inner happiness.

Some people think that their thoughts and feelings are the result of something outside of them. They blame others or a situation for "making them" feel a certain way, as if the thought came from outside and got in their head. We know this isn't true.

Meditation is complete indulgence in the experience of the present moment. We often think of indulgent behavior as being morally wrong, which it can be when it comes at the expense of a deeper connectedness.

Practice seeing everyone as a 1-year-old. The innocence and purity that will emerge in you will brighten your day and give you a new perspective on how you view even those who do you wrong.

When we increase real, pure love, we increase self worth, balance, power, and truth inside the self. When I am in that state, a natural sense of worth and authenticity returns and a deep memory that "I am love" and "I am free" emerges.

When we meditate we aim to reduce the impact of "waste thoughts," allowing real genuine thinking to take over our mind. Negative and waste thoughts weaken our inner state of being, and positive and necessary enhance the soul's original inner power.

What I have included in this practice is the essence of the meditation: walking and listening. We, the everyday non-monastics, can modify this practice to be suitable for daily life.

You take time out every day to keep your body clean by brushing your teeth and showering... Why not practice meditation as a mental cleansing routine?

Meditation is an awareness that we cultivate, and it creates a positive, more productive state of being. It is not just something that you "do," but it is primarily a state of being.

We've always had this myth that we are supposed to sit in a corner, silence our mind, close our eyes, and then meditate. It's not true.

When you speak with someone, you actually speak to the soul. Inside of every soul are experiences of past, present, and even the future.

The natural awareness of peace resides in every one of us. We have simply forgotten. The distractions of everyday life and circumstances tend to pull us away from this remembrance.

At its core, meditation is nothing more than the opportunity to enter the space between the thinker and the thought, which lets us to know that we are more than our mental meanderings.

Louise Hay is one of the grande dames of metaphysics. She has written a power-packed small book on the wonders and privileges of the use of affirmations.