I Meditated and Literally Found What I Was Looking For

Let me start by saying that I am most definitely a believer in the power of what lies within each and every one of us. I’ve been practicing yoga and mindfulness for well over a decade and it has impacted my life in myriad positive ways.

Many of the benefits we associate with practicing mindfulness are somewhat abstract. Improved sense of inner peace, increased self awareness, and the ability to be present in the moment are examples.

Mindfulness is also linked to physical and mental health improvements that can be measured. The trouble is that it is difficult to attribute any particular gain with the practice of mindfulness alone, at least in everyday life outside of a research lab.

That’s why I was absolutely floored and more than a bit excited when I did a ten minute meditation that produced an immediate and tangible outcome. It wasn’t groundbreaking or life changing but it was hugely validating.

If you’ve ever wondered if meditation actually does anything, here’s your proof.

Image by Shutterstock

It All Started When I Couldn’t Start My Car

My car has one of those keyless fobs that just has to be in the car for the vehicle to start. All summer, my boys and I go to our community pool most evenings for swim team. It’s not unusual for us to load up the car and buckle up only to find that I’ve forgotten to move the key fob from my handbag to my pool bag. I’ve done it so many times in fact, that we have come to sort of expect this oversight.

On one such day my car wouldn’t start as we were rushing to get to swim team practice. I dashed inside to grab the fob from my handbag only to find that the fob was NOT in my handbag after all.Puzzled, irritated, and officially late, I grabbed the spare and figured I’d find the fob when we got home.

I Couldn’t Find the Key Fob Anywhere

I emptied the pool bag about ten times. I emptied my handbag an equally futile number of times. The key fob was nowhere to be found and it was starting to get super annoying.

I looked up how much a replacement would run me. Estimates reached the $500 mark. Gulp. Now I really wanted to find the damn key fob. I knew the last time I must have had it and had retraced my steps about ten thousand times to no avail.

I even asked my friend to check the chairs where I had sat a few nights before in case I had the fob in my pocket for some totally out of character reason and it managed to slip out. Nope. No key fob. No where. What in the actual eff?

Image by Shutterstock

Frustrated, I Sat Down to Meditate

Days had passed and I had pretty much given up on finding the dang fob. I was sitting down to do my regular ten-minute seated meditation and half jokingly, I told myself, “Maybe meditation will find my key fob.”

I sat down on a yoga block, criss crossed my legs, and set an intention. “I intend to discover where I lost my key fob.” It’s certainly worth a try, right?

As I sat there trying not to think, the idea seemed to float into my mind from out of nowhere. “It’s in the recycling bin.” The answer was crystal clear as if it was being whispered into my actual ear.Could it be? The ten-mintue timer went off, I bowed my head to the mat with my hands at my heart, took one last deep breath and said, “I have to at least look.”

I Opened the Lid, Laughed, and Cheered

I walked directly from the back deck to the outdoor trash and recycling cans, opened the recycling container, half expecting to be disappointed that the meditation didn’t work after all. I furrowed my brow, moved a case that once contained a pound of raw spinach to the side, and there it was.

My key fob.

In all its shiny, tiny and expensive glory. Just waiting to be found or tossed into the recycling truck the next day, never to be seen again. So surprised and ecstatic was I from this revelation that I burst into a fit of laughter, whooped and hollered, and did a bit of an Irish jig.

Meditation Opens the Mind to Answers

I have never experienced such a direct and clear connection between my meditation practice and what I was seeking. Granted, I’m usually looking for answers that are a bit more intangible.

I’m typically inviting something more tramsformative into my life than simply locating a lost item, cost considerations aside. The same principle applies when we coach children to pray for things that really matter over, say, asking God to step in and make sure you get that new Lego set for your upcoming birthday.

Questions of materialism aside, I was delighted, shocked, and amazed when I sat down with intention, opened my mind, and allowed that very specific information to come to me. For me, it was absolutley proof positive for two tenets that serve as guideposts for my life:

We already have everything we need inside of ourselves, and
Meditation allows us to access that which we don’t even realize we have.

The answer was there all along. I just needed to be quiet and listen to it.

…

Why Was My Key Fob in the Recycling Bin, You Ask?

This is the boring part of the story but I had to include it for those who may be wondering, how the hell did her key fob end up in the recycling bin anyway? My boys and I went to a friend’s house for dinner with her family and at the last second we decided to walk instead of drive. I tossed the key fob in my bag that was filled with beverages. We came home, I emptied the bag of cans in the kitchen and the next day, one of my boys took the recycling out, inadvertently dumping the key fob into the curbside container where it stayed, hidden from site and driving me crazy with relocating it.

—

This post was previously published on medium.com.

***