I’ve always wanted to “learn” to meditate. I mean, I watched Eat, Pray, Love, I read the book and I couldn’t help but think that her level of achieving Zen and just being calm in the moment would be a priceless skill to acquire.
I’m a person who is consistently in her head, lots of balls up in the air, a master at multitasking. I set a goal for myself to meditate for 90 days straight. Here is what I discovered in the process.
- All meditation you should consider a success. You thought of your to do list the whole time? Your kids? Great, there is no wrong way to meditate. One thing to consider is to try different types of meditations. YouTube is a great place for this. I’ve found guided meditations and visualizing meditations work best for me as they take me on the journey I enjoy going on. As I got further in my journey I did get better at keeping the spontaneous thoughts to a minimum
- One size does not fit all. In the beginning I wanted to go deeper and improve on my concentration. I found that meditations with visualization really helped me. I had to focus on what they were telling me to focus on so when my mind wandered it was much easier to get back on course. I find power in the spoken word so most of my meditations contain speaking of some sort. It isn’t wrong that your mind wanders.
- Seeing your thoughts as fluid. What this means for me is that during my meditation I had to see my thoughts as they were, acknowledge them and send them on their way. For me, again with the visualization, I would see a midnight black train that was continually moving horizontally in front of me in a sea of black space. When a thought comes in, I recognize it then “put it on the train” to be taken away.
- When should you meditate? I meditate at all times of the days but I find it most powerful to meditate in the morning, preferably with sun shining on my closed eyes. I meditate sitting up, leaning against a wall, sometimes laying down. The biggest impact of success for me with meditating was there not being interruptions and committing to no less than 10 minutes a session. Its helpful to increase the time as well as change up what you meditate to. I’ve gained new perspective each time I’ve changed my normal routine.
- What are the benefits? I have found the most powerful benefit of my meditations is that I can pause, in my day, in my thoughts, in my to do list and let the Universe in. Sometimes, staying motivated is hard (read about how I stay motivated Here). This may mean it’s a slap upside the head about a situation I’ve been avoiding and I just get this insight whilst meditating or shortly after of what my next steps should be. Sometimes its an overwhelming sense of love that I hadn’t been focusing on prior as the thoughts of my to do lists run through my mind. When you let in what lies beneath the surface you are bound to be led where you will find benefits.
You truly do not have to know anything about meditating to start. Find one on YouTube (or an app- I use Insight Timer) that appeals to you, get comfortable, close your eyes let the Universe guide you.
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