Mindfulness Meditation

It has been a while since I posted. Let me tell you what has transpired. I cranked it up a bit! Oh, yeah, that's right. It wasn't enough to think it or feel it or try it... I actually did it. Each of my daily mediations has helped me realize I want to do more meditation. More focusing on peaceful, stillness.

Have you done that? I find it so cool when I hit the place that is right. That peaceful, still place. I sit quietly and listen to one of my gurus talk me through the steps and then I find it. This quiet place where my mind doesn't race and I feel still inside. I remember once, many years ago, going on a silent, directed retreat. According to the priest who led the retreat I should be quiet for three days. Obviously, he didn't know me or he would have come up with a different plan. This was a form of medieval torture to me. Nonetheless, I did it. The first night I had hallucinations of someone whispering in my ear - Be Still. I'm smiling as I tell you this, because every bit of it is true and I never shared this before... Be Still. There I was in this cold, dark, rectory bedroom with a creepy voice in my head saying Be Still. Remnants of the nun at my grammar school, no doubt. The point is... I listened... I was quiet and I listened and I heard... Be Still. Many more times in my life as I tried to recapture that quiet I am reminded that stillness lies within. It is my source of courage, my source of strength. There is no shame in making mistakes. The shame comes from not correcting them when you see them glaring at you. Be Still. You will hear your heart calling you in the direction of a loving source.

At times when I feel defeated or broken - when I get one more piece of bad news I didn't expect - it is hard to find that source. It is these times I use my remembered thoughts to carry me through. I remember your loving kindness to me, a smile, a touch, a joke... only then can I pause in my sadness and doubt and find the light to lead me back.

To all of you who carried me (even when you didn't know) thank you! Whether you whispered or shouted your gifts to me - I carry them in my heart. When I am in times of doubt they play their song for me and I feel released again to start all over. All of this I am getting from my "something new" meditation.

According to a study at Massachusetts General Hospital found that in just eight weeks of mindfulness meditation there were notable changes in the physical structure of participants brains. "Magnetic resonance images of their brains taken before and after the eight-week stints showed meditation was linked with increases in grey-matter density in brain areas associated with learning and memory, and decreased density in areas linked with stress. A control group did not show the changes.

“It is fascinating to see the brain’s plasticity and that, by practising meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our wellbeing and quality of life,” says study co-author Britta Hölzel."(Lazar, et. al.)

So take the time to have a few deep breaths and relax... let thoughts flow... mindfulness meditation is the practice of staying in the moment. Remember, where my feet are my mind should be... Just stay focused, relax, and renew!

Nurturing Creativity

How do you nurture your creativity? Can you capture your best moments and put them down in a song or in words? What is it like to do inspired work? When you become the vessel for the creative energy to flow. This is a truly unique thing. For most of us we just have to roll up our sleeves and grind it out. That doesn't mean we don't recognize when the source within us inspires us to our next step... our inspiration.

Inspired thought, link inspired action can be elusive, difficult to describe, profound even! Have you ever just decided to go left when you were supposed to go right? Only to discover you made the better choice for some "unknown" reason. This inspired action comes more frequently when we are in the vortex of creativity... the "zone".

We have all been there - understanding that our marriage with the universal source is actually our way of being in touch with ourselves. We can look in the mirror and tell the universe exactly how we want it to work because that energy that creates worlds  is also the energy that creates your day.

Listened to Elizabeth Gilbert talk about this way of looking at creativity and I know I listened to a great idea. Take a listen yourself!

Still Thinking With My Head in the Same Time Zone as My Feet

I am looking forward to seeing the physical changes in my body that demonstrate the changes in my thinking. I enjoy thinking deliberately and this helps me think about my healthy body. Health is not only my birthright, it is my natural state. My body always seeks homeostasis, my cells always seek their perfect level. Even cellularly my body ALWAYS seeks it healthiest self. Why shouldn't I be mindful of that great power that lives in me?

Deliberate thinking lets me live my life on purpose. Did you ever find yourself driving and you are not sure what you were thinking about for the past maybe fifteen minutes, but, you refocus and start thinking deliberately? Me, too.

Sometimes my thoughts wander to a less than happy place. Maybe I experienced something unpleasant and I decide to sort that out in my head. Fighting an imaginary fight... you know, like when you tell the person off that just swiped that parking space from you. You don't really say anything, but boy did you let them have it in your car! Well, instead of doing that I have started thinking more positively about people when I'm in that situation. Maybe they needed to get out of their car right away, perhaps, that isn't the best spot for me after all... you know a more peaceful way of approaching life.

Thinking deliberately, keeps my eye on the prize. Then I am always sure that my head and my feet are still in the same place!

Nostalgia

My friend came up with a great way to raise money for her Breast Cancer Walk. She makes jewelry and sells it to people for a donation. So, last night we (three of us) sat around in her extra comfy living room with a fire in the fireplace and candles lit all around in great conversation making earrings. I was not in a particularly creative head so I was not making as many earring as they were, but it was fun. This is new and different!

During this experience, like so many like it, we were sharing ideas and stories about life. From tragedy to triumph we each other glimpses into ourselves. This age old practice - conversation - is becoming a lost art in this technological world. Oh, don't get me wrong, I am the queen of tech, but, this was a nostalgic glimpse... the fireplace lighting the room, the candles, the conversation - all reminded me of many nights in my life.

So, my plan for today is nostalgia [granted I started my day by blogging :)]. Working in a religious school where most of my cohorts honor Shabbos by spending sunset Friday until sunset Saturday without electronic convenience and in prayer, is an inspiration. So today I will attempt to turn back time as my new and different. Care to come with?

A New Life Perspective

Post Number 50

I certainly have been doing this for more than 50 days - but, I don't always get time to post so - 50 it is!

Do you remember Monty Python's line, "and now for something completely different"... That is how it's been for me lately. I'm just going along on my day and opportunities present themselves for something completely different. So I have been making those choices and it has been great. I feel my mood lifting every time. 

For example, last night, sadly, my husband and I had to go to a wake. Now, clearly, this is not the place you expect your mood to lift, right? When we walked into the Funeral Parlor I was taken back by the sheer number of people there. His cousin Josie had to be 80 years old but the room was packed. This was a well-liked woman and a pretty big family, too. As I walked through the room I thought it was interesting that we were 'related' to all these people I didn't know well! It made me feel warm inside and happy to see them. 

As we drove away Dan and I began to talk about how lucky we were to have so many nice people in our lives and even if we didn't see them all the time, well, it's nice to know they are there. We drove around for about a half hour just laughing and talking. I felt like I was on a date... Eventually, though we did those family chores (picked up groceries for the impending snow storm) and headed home.

I crawled into bed but as I reflected on my day I thought I am pretty lucky to have such a fresh perspective on my life!

Blessings come in all sorts of packages and as long as your eyes are open they are easy to see. It is sometimes kinder to act surprised when someone thinks they are surprising you than to tell them you already knew. Their surprise is your gift. I have many of these gifts in my life and recently I have been blessed with the pure vision to see my life from the pure, positive energy perspective.

What about you?

Journey in Self-Appreciation

I guess because it is still the beginning of the year I am still stuck on the topic of resolutions. I am probably like many other people who made lofty promises to themselves and now find myself struggling to make it happen. I read an article in Yoga Journal Magazine called, "Nuture the New You". What touched me most about this article was: "without self-judgement recognize how the habit you are trying to change creates suffering and stress (including your habit of being hard on yourself). Then acknowledge your desire to be free from this suffering." 

This is my meditation today. I joke with my friends when they are beating themselves up and tell them to stop it. I suggest that they should get on any highway in NY or NJ, drive in the left lane at about 30 mph and people will be lining up to beat them up. Critics are easy to find! People that love and support you, not so much. So, why not start the trend? You're not so bad, actually, you're kind of great. Think about it....

You found a way to improve your life that will bring you more joy. Just because you struggle to break the habit of being you, doesn't make you unworthy. Instead it makes you courageous! Thought habits become visceral over time and then they are hard coded not just in our thoughts, but in our muscles and neurons.

Which one of us hasn't had this conversation? 

Tell me the phone number? 

Uh, wait, I don't know it... I have to dial it first.

Why? because the information is hard coded into your muscles. Well, if you have spent a lifetime procrastinating.... that must be hard coded! Be as kind to yourself as you would be to another going through the same thing. Don't throw out your resolution because you skipped a day. Re-affirm yourself in your journey and know that it is one of a million steps taken one at a time.