"On Fire", recently my life has indeed been on fire. Not in a trailblazing, trend setting, Alicia Keys is proud, on fire. A quit teaching, got laid off, don't know who I am any more on fire. Just like that little dog from the Green's Gunshow comic. You know the one, where he is sitting on a chair anxiously smiling while the world around him burns? Yep, that on fire. Just like him I am looking out at the audience and saying "This is fine", but internally I am screaming.
So, what the hell is one to do? How do we put this fire out? The truth is, I haven’t quite figured that out yet. I don’t think the burnt husk of the life I used to live is savable, or even worth saving. But what I do know is I am worth saving and meditation slowly saves me every day.
“Ah we see, she must not have kids.” I was blessed in September of 2021 with the most beautiful baby girl I have ever seen. Every time my house is on fire; I look to her and I find the power and courage to claw my way out.
I wasn’t proud of the woman I was becoming and the example that I was setting for my sweet girl. I set out to do better, and since finding mindfulness meditation, I have. It has worked for me and it can work for you too.
“Why mindfulness meditation and not alcohol?” Because I am a woman of science. The Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, provides expert whole-person care to anyone who seeks it. Meditation is one of the key factors they have found in stress reduction. Meditation has been used for thousands of years, and while historically the focus has been to deepen your relationship with sacred forces, we have found that it does much more than that.
Benefits of meditation:
· Gaining perspective
· Increasing self-awareness
· Focusing on the present
· Reducing Negative Emotions
· Increasing Imagination and Creativity
· Increasing Patience and Tolerance (Kids
remember)
· Lowers Resting Heart Rate
· Lowering Blood Pressure
· Improving Sleep Quality
As if that wasn’t enough, there have also been research to suggest that meditation may help people manage symptoms of:
· Anxiety
· Asthma
· Cancer
· Chronic Pain
· Depression
· Heart Disease
· IBS
· Sleep Problems
· Tension Headaches
If you experience any of the items listed above; you deserve relief. Let me say that one more time. YOU DESERVE RELIEF. You deserve a few moments to live in a mind that is not attacking you, even for just a moment.
You deserve to feel peace. You deserve to feel joy. You deserve to feel contentment. I am so proud of you for taking the time to find strategies to help you get there.
So, let’s fucking do it.
You can take time in the morning before your kids’ wakeup or right before you go to bed, during nap times, while you are doing dishes, folding laundry, driving to practices, or having sacred time on the royal throne. This is not something that we are going to break our backs to do. We are going to look for those moments where you can retreat inside of yourself and you are going to stoke the face of your own internal child, and say the words “It is all going to be ok.”
You can do guided meditation, mantra meditation, mindfulness meditation, qi gong, transcendental meditation, and yoga. You are going to circulate through these until you find the one that has you coming back to reality with a renewed sense of self. It is possible, and you are worth the time you find to engage in it.
Last night I found myself faced with a stack of bills that I can’t pay, a toddler who wanted dinner three hours ago, and a husband who was forced to work late again. I took on the leaning tower of dishes and in the midst of all of that fire, I found peace.
You can too. Look out for the next post where we take a deep dive into the different types of meditation and get real about where we can use them practically.
