Reflection, contemplation and meditation





Every pure understanding depends upon meditation.

Successful meditation depends on receiving correct instructions.[1]

Now we get to the steps where many of us step off the learning train, so if you’re still on board and engaged in a learning program at this point, congratulations!

Reflection, contemplation or meditation are powerful methods for deepening our understanding, and advancing our learning.

Reflection and contemplation in this context have similar meanings: calm, lengthy, intense consideration of any object of attention, often in relationship to other objects.

Similarly, meditation is generally defined as sustained focus on an object of attention. A more powerful definition asserts that meditation is a sustained focus on a virtuous object of attention, e.g. the thought “I am determined to become a doctor so that I can help others lead long, healthy lives.”

Again paraphrasing Dr. Jacqueline Leighton:

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Dr. Howard Gardner has studied the lives of extraordinary individuals such as

Einstein and Mozart and found that these extraordinary individuals spent a tremendous amount of time reflecting on how to meet their goals. At the classroom level, researchers such as Dr. Phil Winne from Simon Fraser University have studied students who engage in self-regulation or meta-cognitive behaviours which are very similar in quality to reflection or meditation. The ability to think about how you think, learn, and perform is very useful to helping individuals understand how to improve their learning and performance and incorporate what their mentors tell them into techniques to get better at what they do.

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By engaging in reflection or meditation we deepen our understanding and may even experience a whole new idea, or realization, that transcends our prior understanding. Many ‘aha’ moments have arisen in history in many different fields, directly through this practice.

Meditation is a learnable skill. It depends on many of the preparatory practices mentioned in an earlier blog. I recommend seeking out a qualified teacher so that your reflection, contemplation or meditation – whatever you choose to call it – can be sustained and successful.

Next we will look at the application of joyful effort.

-David Luke, Senior Consultant at FocusFit (2007) Inc.

© 2011 D. G. Luke and FocusFit (2007) Inc.

[1] Geshe Kelsang Gyatso