(REMASTERED AUGUST 2023)DAY 14: MEDITATION
I’m not religious, but it isn't lost on me that most religions and even agnostic sects of spirituality center around some form of prayer or meditation or introspection. Regardless of your faith or lack thereof, it’s crucial to offer ourselves the space and time to decompress. Time away from screens, family, friends, work, and even away from your own thoughts. Plans, anxieties, fears can lead us to cycle in our mind and by practicing mindfulness, we’ll notice and can refocus back on our present moment. The present is where our power lies. That’s where the magic happens + if we can practice staying there, we can get better at it and need less of the redirection.
Guided meditations are a great way to start, and tiny commitments like three minutes at a time are way easier to commit to than massive changes in your routine, meditating is less about clearing our thoughts and rather, learning how to sit with them comfortably.
If we imagine our mind as the sky, each thought is a cloud, and we can get caught into them, but if we allow them to pass and focus on the sky as a whole, we will realize just how temporary weather conditions are.
One strategy I’ve benefited from is returning to the question: “what will I think of next” and focusing on the peace that comes from the moments between your question and the next arising thought. The gaps become more comfortable and we can grow them as we practice mindfulness.
But it doesn't have to be formal. Try washing dishes or walking with intention + no distractions. Try focusing on your breath or counting.
I sometimes dread my practice and take breaks or change my own techniques. I am not sure why I still find it difficult to show up for myself and sit with my own thoughts, knowing they only get easier to sit with as i do - but here we are.
That said, making it a “to-do” check mark is not helpful, either, because then i just want to do it and forget that there are benefits to doing.
Regardless of if a meditation is good or not, or you enjoy it or not, we can all probably benefit from a few moments away from our phones. A few moments with ourselves. Meditation is an immediate stress relief and can lead to more control over our thought patterns and behaviors. There’s science behind the benefits and stress relief that comes from mindfulness and breath work practices.
Most people go on thinking our thoughts control us, with practice and mindfulness, we can regain our sense of control - but we learn how to get comfortable letting go, first.
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