Meditation Mediates My Day in Minutes

I started meditating several years ago. I'll admit I really didn't get it at first. I felt like I was wasting time. I struggled to quite my thoughts. There was always this little voice saying "You should be doing this, that, or the other." as I tried to meditate. So I'd meditate for a day or two or five, then stop for a week, a few weeks, or a month.

Then I tried one of the Oprah/Deepak Chopra meditation experiences. I did several of these experiences. I always completed the entire experience, which included a writing portion. I kind of liked that part. I didn't like the bent toward the marketing ploy that tells people they are broken and need this experience to fix themselves. I also didn't like that the introductions to the meditations often had a "woo woo" element. At the end of each experience, I'd find myself relieved it was finally over. I'd end with the best of intentions to keep meditating. And, then I'd miss a day, then another, then a week... Okay, you see where this is going...

I started looking for other ways to meditate. I found some music, such as Enya and Vibrational Sound  Healing by Dr. Andrew Weil and Kimba Arem that worked to some degree. I tried the meditations on Do Yoga with Me, many of which I really like and occasionally still do.

As meditating became more a part of my routine, I eventually decided to add back in the journaling portion of it. I ordered several journals featuring artwork by CC Willow. and started to write down a few thoughts when I finished my meditation each morning. I found that it was a great way to transition from meditating to my work day. I ended up dropping the journaling aspect on weekends though. For some reason, when I try to journal on weekends after my meditation it has the opposite effect on me than it does during the week.

I eventually joined a Facebook Group, Meditation for Beginners, started by Sophie Uliano to hold myself accountable and hopefully inspire and encourage others who were meditating. Through this group I discovered an app called Insight Timer, which I've grown to love. It offers meditations, tracks meditations, and allows connection with other people who meditate. This has helped me up my meditation to the point I actually started feeling lasting benefits from it.

I meditate at least once a day and often twice.

The more I've meditated the more beneficial I've found meditation. It offers me a way to quiet down, to bring peace to my emotions, and to focus my thoughts on the things I want to accomplish each day. I generally prefer a guided meditation followed by a few minutes to write down whatever arises in my thoughts and emotions during the meditation. Those few minutes often help me transition into my workday allowing me to better focus on my writing and whatever other chores happen to be on my schedule for the day.

On days when I meditate, I'm more productive. I think that has something to do with feeling calmer in general as well as more focused on whatever task is at hand. Meditation allows me to face and deal with emotions that I'm avoiding. It helps me clear my thoughts and emotions when I feel overwhelmed. Meditation helps me look at my work with better clarity. Meditation pushes me to see people with a more open heart and to offer loving kindness in circumstances that would have annoyed or angered me in the past.

I don't think meditation works in isolation, but I think it is part of a bigger lifestyle for embracing my best self, allowing myself to grow, and seeing the world through kinder eyes.

Meditation is really about getting in touch with yourself and the way you want to exist in the world. That was the part it took me a while to embrace. When I first started meditating, I wanted it to be a magic cure-all that would suddenly make my work more productive, create extra time for me to get all my other chores done, and make me suddenly more connected to everyone in my life... That was a fantasy.

The reality is meditation slows me down long enough to settle my thoughts and emotions, so that I can decide how to approach each day in the best way possible.

I used to have unrealistic expectations about meditation and about what meditation would mean for me. This lead me to often think I was doing it wrong, but over time as I practiced I came to realize it truly is a practice. What works for me might not work for you. And that's okay!! The benefits I receive might not match yours exactly. And that's okay!! Sometimes we just have to take a deep breath and stop trying so hard.

Take the pressure off...