Years ago, when I first started meditating, my practice was extremely short and infrequent. My understanding was that the whole point of meditating was to quiet your mind, so when I was unable to do so, I would get frustrated with myself and give up. I also found it to be very uncomfortable to sit in a cross-legged position on the floor, for more than 10 minutes. My legs would fall asleep and my back would hurt. I still don't know how the monks do it for hours at a time!
I have since learned over time, that you can meditate anywhere, in any position that is comfortable for you and for any length of time. I started to get into it more, when I chose to simply lay down on the couch or bed. Some times I listen to binaural beats or guided meditations on YouTube or other times I just enjoy the peace and quiet.
The other key piece is that the end result is not to quiet your mind, that's next to impossible for anyone. The goal is to start observing your thoughts. When you start this practice, you will begin to notice, what you really think about and more importantly how you speak to yourself.
We have something like 80 000 thoughts spinning around our heads in any given day. Do you know how many of those are positive? Unfortunately, very few, since our brains are wired to think negatively from a fear-based place, as a way to protect us from dangerous animals, when we all once lived on the land.
If you are new to meditation, start out with only a few minutes and then slowly build up from there. A great way to start your day is to think of at least 3 things that you are grateful for as soon as you wake up. I have turned that into my own guided meditation, simply repeating those as an affirmation. You can even keep a gratitude journal where you write them down. Today I decided to turn my gratitude list into a tapping meditation, which I have shared with you below.
What was a huge revelation for me with meditation, is noticing all those negative thoughts swirling around in my head, along with the negative sensations in my body that go along with them. Once I clued in that the reason, those thoughts leave you with negative physical sensations, I started to wonder if the reason for that was because those thoughts were not true. I then began experimenting anytime a negative thought came into my head, by switching it to the complete opposite positive thought. And noticed that created good sensations in my body. Mind blown!
Deep in our souls, we know what's true and what's not. We have to learn to pay attention to how those thoughts make us feel. If the feelings are bad...well then it's not true. If it feels good, then it has to be true!
As I was writing this blog, I found out that I am the grand prize winner of that Amazing giveaway that I mentioned last time. I’m still in shock! I'll write more about that next time.
