I have now been to two meditation sessions and at each of them the Buddhist monk who does the class talks a little about different ways in which we can help our meditation practice from a Buddhist perspective.

In the first week, we discussed how our behaviour affects our everyday thoughts and worries. If we behave in a more moral way, we worry less about our actions as we have more integrity. This makes meditation easier. In the second week, we touched on the idea of karma – in particular, merit – and cultivating a giving attitude versus that of miserliness. This was referring to giving in a more general way, as in time, skills, knowledge etc. rather than just buying or offering people things.

These discussions have been of real interest to me and are encouraging me to take it all in more slowly rather than rushing through a lot of material and not really understanding it.

I find that karma and rebirth are perhaps the most challenging and elusive concepts in Buddhism for me at the moment, but I’m happy to remain open-minded on these and concentrate on the basics until I’m ready to explore these more fully.