I didn’t know when I started meditating the kind of awesome power it has. It has made an enormous impact on my life. Meditation and mindfulness were on my list of good mental health practices.  At this point I began meditating a few minutes a day to start.  My trainer had recommended an app to me that was very easy to use. She really was pushing meditation for me and I can see why.  We have already established that I needed to calm down.  And I now understood that this was going to be a part of my healing.  It was time for me to get serious about mindfulness!! My next resolution looked like this:

My Quotation: “Train your mind to see the good in every situation”

Daily/Weekly Actions:

Meditate Daily

Take an Online Meditation Course

Eat Mindfully/Live in the Moment

I started meditating with just a few minutes a day and worked myself up from there.  I also began a sleep meditation at night which was fantastic!  No more busy brain keeping me up at night.  I turn on the guided sleep meditation (there are many to choose from) and I’m asleep in minutes!  Heavenly.  After I found a few guided meditations on the app I was using, I discovered Deepak Chopra’s 21 Day Meditation Experience.  Have you ever done one of these programs?  If not, let me explain.  Every few months Deepak provides these 21 Day Meditation programs for free.  I still can’t believe they are free for the amount of content and quality you get! Each program has a topic to work on within the 21 days. First, and most of the time, each day begins with an introduction from Oprah speaking to us with all her wisdom.  I’m a big Oprah fan! Then we hear from Deepak.  Both he and Oprah explain the topic at hand.  I take A LOT of notes during this time!  Next, Deepak gives us a Centering Thought.  Something to carry us through the day and to remember from the day’s teachings.  Next, we prepare to meditate.  We sit, breath and listen.  Deepak then gives a Mantra to silently repeat to ourselves during the meditation which will last approximately 15 minutes.  When completed, there are journaling questions to ask yourself and reflect on.  Let me just say, this way of practice really spoke to me.  I could feel after the 21 days a calmness that wasn’t there before.  It was noticeable when I realized that instead of getting worked up, angry or anxious about things, I would be more in the flow.  I didn’t get so excited about the little things that can and do go wrong in life.  That was my meditation practice showing up for me. I will dive deeper into the 21 Day Meditation Experiences on future posts! There is so much to say about them!

Meditation has SO many benefits. To name a few, it reduces pain, boosts your immune system, generates feelings of optimism, releases fear and anxiety, helps control thoughts and emotions, improves focus and helps you relax and sleep better. I needed every single one of those things and more. If you want to read more about the science behind the benefits of meditation, please click here. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/05/26/harvard-neuroscientist-meditation-not-only-reduces-stress-it-literally-changes-your-brain/?utm_term=.3244325831de

I have learned and grown so much over the past two years and most of that is due to my meditation practice, which leads to self awareness and personal growth.  I will go into more detail in future posts but the overall affect has been that I no longer get so anxious or panicky anymore.  A simple thing could set me off in the past and honestly I haven’t had any episodes since I started my practice.  Have you ever had a panic attack?  Well, it basically feels like you’re dying.  It’s the most awful out of body experience and I hope to never feel like that again.  I don’t think I will because I have so many tools to work with now.

Which leads to my next action, which was, Take an Online Meditation Course. There are many online classes! Some are free and some aren’t. I chose a free, well-reviewed course and was not disappointed. I recommend this for anyone is new to meditation. I loved the way the instructor taught all the different types of meditation, because they do vary. I scheduled time in my calendar every day to do the lessons. It didn’t take much time and I truly enjoyed it. If you would like to check it out, click here. https://palousemindfulness.com/

Eat Mindfully/Live in the Moment falls into just being present. I started to pay attention to the current moment and not reliving events of the past or worrying about the future. You really can beat anxiety by just being present. Eating mindfully, or doing whatever it is you are doing at the moment keeps you present. Also, this forced me to stop multi-tasking, because if you don’t already know, there is no such thing. One activity always suffers and you end up doing two or more things badly instead of one well. Eating doesn’t require any skill but the idea was to enjoy my food without rushing or standing at the kitchen counter. I was not only practicing eating mindfully, but single-tasking in general. You can read about that here. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201103/technology-myth-multitasking

Have you thought about meditating? If you would like to become more mindful, try the following:

• Take an online or in person meditation course
• Make meditation a part of your daily schedule
• Practice single-tasking

Let me know how it goes! Please comment below! Thanks for being here!