Last time, I introduced the concept of a Cloak of Peace, and suggested that it could be used for a variety of purposes. Today, I’d like to continue that exploration.
Let’s start with a couple of caveats. First, you’re going to be building up the energy and efficacy of this cloak over time, over a number of meditation sessions. So choose one concept that is most meaningful to you; one cloak that will be most useful to you. Think about your day to day life and ask yourself: Where do I get into trouble? Where do I stumble? At what moment do I most need a helping hand? I chose “peace” as the helping hand, but yours may be different.
Second, make sure your color symbolism really works for you. You can research various color systems, or you can work intuitively, but make sure the color clearly conveys the feeling you’re going for. You don’t want to change your mind six months down the road. So think about color before creating the cloak.
Finally, you may find this technique so useful and easy that you decide to have a second cloak, in a very different color (and/or fabric and/or style) for a different purpose. But you want to be very good at having and using the one cloak first, so assume you’re only going to have one, and choose the one you want the most.
Okay, now that’s out of the way. Let’s talk about uses for the cloak.
I went to sleep last night thinking of all the things I want to accomplish, and thought about creating a Cloak of Energy. I often feel lazy, dragged out, unmotivated. My knee hurts, I had a long day, there’s something good on TV. Things don’t get done.
What would a cloak of energy be like? I imagine the color should be red (Mars, strength, aggression, motivation), orange (vitality, success, fire), or yellow (the Sun, achievement, ambition, strength). I would make it of a light fabric, like a silk or a jersey, that moved easily as I moved. Maybe even a short cloak, like a capelet, because that feels like something someone energetic would wear. In creating the meditation, I would focus on feelings of excitement, energy, and motivation, and visualize myself accomplishing small household tasks that require lots of moving around (carrying laundry, cleaning off clutter, that sort of thing).
I originally devised this meditation to help with ADHD. Put on the Cloak of Focus in a classroom to help stay focused. There’s a problem with that though, a Catch-22. When you’re unfocused, it’s hard to do the meditation to create the cloak. So the thing to do is to create the cloak and reinforce it when you’re at your most focused. That way, putting it on later will require less focus.
