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!