As I woke up this morning with a boundless amount of energy to begin my workout, my mind wandered to the chaos occurring in the world today. Firstly, I realized I need to change my pre-bed routine if I’m preoccupied with these kind of thoughts this early. Secondly, I was really excited to do my meditation after my workout so I could quiet my mind and sit silently.
Blaise Pascal – “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
I am sure you know about what happened on Capitol Hill in Washington DC this week. I am by no means a political person, and I am not interested in throwing political ideas at anyone. Now, if you want to go at it for fun and throw snowballs at each other and laugh and have fun, then I’m all for it! Except of course if you live somewhere without snow, in which case I would gladly make ‘sand angels’ on the beach with my new friends!
I simply am not a person to get involved with fighting, because as Mother Teresa pointed out, “We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.”. Give me some of that!
No one is perfect. We are all trying to do the best we can with what we know and what we have at the time. Look back at your life. What were your ideas and values? Has anything changed? What fears are you holding onto to? What has worked out well and why? What are you true to? The happiest lives are ones in which the person lives congruent with their values. However, you need to ask yourself if you are self-aware enough to see it.
I can tell you, it is a continuous process, not an event. And it does change your life when you realize new things about yourself!
After my workout, I sat down to meditate in a quiet room alone. Right before I sank into what I call ‘nothingness’, the quote from Blaise Pascal crossed my mind, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”. Then I wondered, for just a second, how many people on Capitol Hill meditate?
I began meditating in 2013. I took a certification course to become a meditation instructor at the University of Holistic Theology. I took the course to learn about meditating. In 2012 I was already two years out of school and having a ‘rough’ beginning of the year to say the least. I assume that everyone can relate to this? We all experience good and bad times. It is inevitable, life ebbs and flows.
However, at this time, to get myself out of my ‘funk’ I did two things. First, I began doing yoga daily. I was a runner, and I continued with this as well. Second, I put positive quotes and affirmations up all over my apartment. All over! Post it notes galore! Every color, and every size and all kinds of quotes from inspirational to funny. They were posted all over my apartment! I did this in order to re-wire what I was thinking. There was not a step you could take in any direction of my apartment that did not have a quote in view for you to read.
It is amazing how hard we are on ourselves and what our self-thoughts are like. What I was saying to myself are things I would never say to another person. It was harsh! So, I decided to change that. If you have read my blog titled, “Do you believe in soul-mates”, I suppose it worked!
As an aside, I would like to point out that I also wrote a four page essay to get what I wanted.
So, the meditation journey began. I had never done it before. I read the required texts and began to sit and ‘quiet’ my mind.
In our society, we are severely over-stimulated. There is sensory information everywhere. When you wake up, you are probably on your cell phone immediately. Or you put the television on and check out the news.
One thing I have committed to is to not look at my cell phone or other media until after 8am. I get up at 5am, which gives me some nice separation from sensory overload. I am sure some people would freak out if they could not look at their phone immediately. That is another good topic though, addiction to technology. I am sure I will have a future blog on this!
I remember beginning to meditate. I started with ten minutes. In the course they were suggesting to meditate for up to half an hour. At the beginning, my legs would go numb or get uncomfortable. I would wander with a few thoughts. I would listen to what was happening out in the parking lot. I vividly remember one day in particular, maybe a week or two into the course. I was sitting cross legged on my cushion, and I was really feeling calm and relaxing my mind. I realized I was thinking that I was not thinking!
What a super proud moment, I’d done it! Then a car door or two slammed and there were really noisy people in the parking lot and I thought, “Really, do you have to be that f***ing loud this early in the morning?.”. Suddenly I started to laugh, because that was an epic moment for me to realize that I really needed some humility. If anyone needed to quiet their mind to reap the benefits of not being so impatient and angry, it was me.
See, there are many advantages to meditating. I noticed that it definitely helped me to become more self-aware, and help me to decrease my stress. Meditating has been shown to help in many areas though, and there are numerous scientific studies on it. There are spiritual, physical, emotional and psychological benefits to meditating and some of them may include, but are not limited to:
- Higher levels of energy and creativity
- Lower blood pressure
- Increased exercise tolerance
- Better concentration
- Decreased stress, depression and anxiety
- Better relationships with others
- Increased self-awareness
There are many different types of meditation, but the idea is to ‘quiet’ the chatter in your mind. I would encourage you to try a few different types. See what works for you.
Here are 5 tips to help you meditate in silence:
- Sit in a comfortable position. It can be cross-legged on a cushion, in lotus pose, or on a chair. Make sure your spine is straight and your ears are over your shoulders.
- Remember to breathe deeply.
- Count your breaths. It can help you to concentrate on one thing only. Count up to 10 and then back down from 10. (I found this to be particularly helpful for me.)
- If thoughts or images cross your mind, this is okay! Let them flow through and disappear. The idea of meditating is to focus thoughts and decrease the number of thoughts in your mind. By letting the thought go, you can return to ‘quieting’ your mind. Try not to look at the image, analyze it, or think more about the thought that crossed your mind. Let it go.
- Set a timer. Begin with ten minutes and work your way up to meditating longer if you like. As you continue to meditate you will find it easier on your body and on your mind!
Happy meditating my friends! You will reap the benefits of it. It may be frustrating at the beginning but persevere. Consistent habits each day lead to greatness!
