When you truly stop the madness and pull yourself away from your day — your hectic, probably heavily scheduled and undoubtedly overbooked day — and allow yourself to embrace a little quiet and stillness to think about it, contemplate this fact: you are a different person than you were a day ago. Heck, you’re a different person than you were an hour ago or even 10 minutes ago. I’ve been thinking about that a lot this week. I’ve embarked on the latest guided meditation experience offered online for free from Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey. When I heard about this experience, it came at an unbelievable time. I had just determined that I really needed to learn more about meditation and try it. This is a completely new concept for me although I am a huge believer in the power of silence and freeze-framing our lives to eliminate noise and distraction and mine out incredible things we might miss due to the ruckus. It can help lift our spirits, clear a blockage of contemplation or creativity. And if you are facing some physical challenges as I have been lately, it can help encourage you to focus more on your breathing and slowing down. This is always beneficial for easing tension or alleviating physical stress from the pressures that may be weighing down our mind, body or spirit. Sometimes, all three!
So I thought what the hell! What have I got to lose by trying this online experience which runs for 21 days? Already I have struggled with fitting it into my morning routines, which tells you a little bit about some of my problem, doesn’t it? Stopping and just “being” for 20 minutes are hard enough commitments to make but I am determined to make them. This latest online meditation experience, one of many that have been offered through the author/speaker and his partner in peace Ms. Winfrey herself, focuses on the heaviness that weighs in our lives emotionally and physically and can add to struggles with overeating or weight loss. This can be in part due to clinging on to the past and negativity from another time. He stresses that we can alleviate much of this heaviness and embrace more lightness in ourselves by focusing our energy and thoughts to exist in the present moment and who we are today.
I know to some it may sound like a lot of New Age mumbo-jumbo, but I assure you that I am not a subscriber to parlor tricks. I think when a person is recovering from something emotionally, physically or spiritually damaging like a medical emergency, a meditative experience like this one can offer such helpful positive messaging to focus on throughout the day, especially when the future feels far more uncertain than it did before your health scare. Each day of this program offers a centered thought to focus on during the meditation exercise, and I especially appreciated today’s thought and wanted to share here.
I am endlessly renewed in the present moment.
I like that. You see, I think a lot of us forget that and what I mentioned at the start of my blog. We can acknowledge that who we are now at 45, for example, is not the same person as we were at 30 or 15. But a different person from yesterday? Huh? That thought might not connect. But think about it this way: every 10 minutes I’m a different person. I’m 10 minutes older. I’m 10 minutes wiser. I’m 10 minutes further along in whatever journey I may be embarking on at the time, whether it’s a physical trip to somewhere I am trying to reach or 10 minutes further on a project I’m working on or 10 minutes deeper into a film I’m watching or book I’m reading. That means whatever happened to me during those past 10 minutes has now colored who I am. It’s added to my knowledge, maybe impacted my mood, or it might have changed my perspective on a topic. Whether it’s 10 minutes, 10 hours or 10 years, I am endlessly renewed as I transition to this moment right here. The present.
I like that reminder that we’re always changing. Some people will announce that they don’t like change, almost as if they are proud of that characteristic. I used to be one of those people. Not anymore. I happen to love change. Anytime in my life when change was involved, even the really big changes, things often seemed worse at the start but inevitably they became so much better. And little changes aren’t any less important. Deciding to skip the hazelnut creamer in my tea this morning and going with honey instead was a small change and not one to alter the course of my life forever but it is already having a positive side effect as the honey coats my still laryngitis-riddled throat.
We are not our past. Today’s meditation experience was focused on getting participants to think about what thoughts, people and memories bring heaviness to their lives. They are not easy questions to ponder because they can lead to answers we may not wish to dwell on or consider but just acknowledging those answers makes us more self-aware, and self-awareness is the key to lightness — of our heart, of our mind and who knows, maybe even our physical selves if it lifts these concerns out of our path to do things to improve our health!
I’m not expecting any miracles. And at this point, I’m not very good at the meditation thing yet. I do struggle to stay focused that long without thinking about where I need to be or what the dog is up to nearby. But I know I’ll get better as I learn more about meditation and explore other sites and sources to educate myself and experiment. And given all that’s going on here emotionally, physically and creatively right now, meditation is an alternative to more medication (already enough of those in the picture as my body continues to heal) so I think this is a positive path to explore. Even if I’m not always meditating throughout the time period allocated during these online experiences, it forces me to stop doing other things and reflect. I’m journaling again and allowing myself to embrace the act of being quiet and still. (I know what you’re thinking. Me quiet? It can happen, amazingly so.)
And now that you’ve finished reading this blog, I hope maybe it inspires you to think about the possibilities of adding more moments for quiet and stillness, reflection and meditation, within your own busy day. It might not have taken a full ten minutes to read but see? Ten minutes wiser. Told ya. *grins*
I welcome your thoughts about meditation and your experiences with it. Right now, my mind and my heart are open to whatever it takes to get back to peace. May I also add that I have really appreciated everybody’s kindness, words of encouragement and support since my last few blogs about the year so far. Thank you for that. ~ Chris xo
Follow Chris!