meditate daily

I’m having a little trouble focusing my mind right now, mostly because my body is pretty uncomfortable at the moment. So I downloaded a few podcasts, one or two from the “Meditation Podcast” website. But they seemed more like guided imagery type of tools.

Are there any other good ones out there?

There’s a nice feedback cycle to the meditation process.

One of the side-effects of worrying and tension is perpetual shoulder and neck tension. Of course meditation helps with the mental stress, which will help with the physical stress, which makes it easier to sit in good form with good posture to meditate, which makes meditating easier…

I almost didn’t do it. Getting ready for work and all caught in the rantings of my brain from the moment I woke up. But I stopped and said, do it, even just for 5 minutes. Being 5 minutes earlier for work won’t make a difference, but it will help your day.

And it has! I had just a few, oh, maybe seconds of clarity and stillness, but even they help. After I got up (oh, and I didn’t sit in my bedroom) and moved around getting ready for my day, I just kept that feeling in mind (instead of the intense chatter I started with.)

It’s really like a medicine. There isn’t a permanent effect from one episode of meditation. But it lasts for a little while, and then you have to do it again.

I decided to track my progress on my wall calendar at work. One “x” every day I do it…I will try not to break the chain!

I’m on the hunt for a quiet (secret!) spot at work where I can sneak off to meditate for a few minutes. Sometimes I don’t get to it in the a.m. and I would like to keep it up.

stairwell meditation? hmmm…don’t think so. nor rooftop (now that it’s snow-showering here in new england). copy room meditation? yikes.

For some reason, those times when I’m in bed, prior to having to get up, when I’m awake, or before falling asleep, are particularly bad times. The floodgates open and my mind just lets all the worries come in. From large life worries to how to face the week.

I’m noticing it more, and the difficulty it presents, becuase it sort of sets the tone for the day. But I want to replace this with focusing on breathing. I’ll try it tonight, and make the intention to enjoy that time, making my mind comfortable, and relaxed.

This is a time when my recent “work” has been tested.

And so far the results are so-so.

I’m in a bit of an anxious and over-thinking mode, and I”m finding it tough to focus in meditation, though I know it would help. The body and mind resist so much.

I don’t think there’s much I can do other than keep trying, though?

Driving back from music class, which meant over 45 minutes in the car, I planned to just have a PEACEFUL drive.

Not that easy! Thoughts keep wanting to intrude, even good ones.

But I think the meditating is teaching me how to see the thoughts some in, accept them, but them make a conscious, gentle but firm effort to push the thoughts away. It takes constant work, but it is worth it.

i won’t be needing to give up any chocolate!

And I am feeling the utility of this goal. It must be done every day, because it’s not easy and one needs to practice.

I have experienced only a few seconds of true presence (conciousness?) but they were enough to let me know that it is possible.

There is such relief to the soul in the cool stillness of being present in the moment.

I sat on a bench, felt its solidity beneath me, connecting to the ground, to the earth, to the water flowing in the river in front of me. Pictured and heard the sound of lapping water. Used its rhythm to count 1…2…3…4…5 as I released my breath slowly. Sun warm on my left side. I got up with the stillness, and let it carry me back to the building, to work.