Other thoughts & ideas at first try to enter my mind, pushing aside my efforts at relaxation. For instance, that phone call I need to make, the car part I forgot to purchase at Wal-Mart last weekend or follow-up at work I need to get done by tomorrow morning. But, I gently push the errant thoughts aside and go back to that color or object I first started out visualizing a few moments ago. And, slowly but surely, I enter that state of relaxation that I seek to achieve. Tension, problems and concerns melt away. In their place is a tranquil state of mind that welcomes relection on some deep problem or situation that may be causing problems in your life. I use this method myself and have found astounding, creative insight into problems I really don't think I otherwise would have uncovered in my "normal" state of mind. But there's one thing I've left out of my meditation technique, and that's the physical location I use to perform my relaxation procedure. Wonder where I do it? At a church at about 6:15 a.m. weekday mornings, give or take a few minutes. It's a Roman Catholic church, as per my heritage. At that time of morning, there usually no one in the part of the church where I sit.Off to one side, there's a chapel where daily Mass is offered, beginning at 6:30 or 6:35 a.m. or so. As relayed up above, I start to enter my mediative state around 6:15, and by the time Mass begins I'm nice & relaxed. Hearing the voice of the priest & congregation, I then slowly

Readers of this site might recall that we moved from a suburban area to a very rural area, where deer, wild turkeys and a fox or two are our neighbors. I travel about an hour to work and when I arrive at my work destination each work day morning I make a detour of about 20 yards or so and pull up in from of The Church of the Immaculate Conception. Needless to say, the church isn't too crowded at that time of the morning. A few folks walk past the pew I regularly sit in, on their way to morning Mass that's held in a side chapel at about 6:30 a.m. But basically, I'm alone.

My religious heritage is of the Roman Catholic persuasion. That, of course, explains my interest in attending the chuch previously mentioned. The third to the last pew on the right side of the church is my favorite area. I sit there because it's dark, which for me is more conducive to my meditative efforts.

To be continued...