So, on a whim, and because I believe in accountability and because I love my clients… on June 2nd one of my clients and I committed to each other that we would pray and meditate every day in June.
GASP!!
For those of you who know me well… well let’s just say I have never been able to pull of that kind of long term (don’t scoff, for me a month is long term) meditation. Not even during my radiation treatment, which is the life style change I took on during radiation (changed diet with surgery, exercise with chemo… and meditation with radiation). It just doesn’t happen for me. I don’t like meditating (all that sitting still makes me itchy, and yes I have tried walking meditation, it is better suited to me for sure), it doesn’t come naturally, even when I get all those promised rewards I still weave and bob to try to get away when that time of day arrives.
Yup – I’m a meditation-phobe.
One of the reasons for that, by the way, is that when I really do get into it, when I open my mind and my heart and get silent and wait, well what happens is I get flooded, no let me correct that, I get FLOODED, with ideas. Ideas not of my own making. Ideas channelling in. Ideas run amok in my brain. And while many folks might think that sounds delightful, for me it is overwhelming. Super overwhelming. Because I feel somewhat obliged to do something with all of those ideas. That’s right with EVERY SINGLE ONE of those ideas. Needless to say I come off of those meditations absolutely exhausted. And feeling like I am about to have to climb a mountain every day between now and when I collapse from the exhaustion of completing that kind of task overload.
It isn’t fun. And you know me, if it isn’t fun I am not totally convinced that it should be done (unless you can make it fun, which might be my challenge for June).
Now some of you might say I am meditating wrong. And of course that is very possible (both that I am meditating wrong, and that many of you might feel the need to pipe up and tell me so). But I am such a strong stand for the perspective that we all need to find the way in the world that is right FOR US. And that includes meditation. So I am not for having to do it a pre-determined way, following specific rules, or subscribing to a certain “brand” of meditation. I am simply not a “I am the way, the truth and the light” kind of gal. There is not just one way, there are as many ways (to do anything) as there are people out there… so I do want to find my own way, the way that works best for me, the way that is fun, and even though it might take longer to do that, even though there might be struggle and effort involved – because my #1 value is To Thine Own Self Be True, it just has to happen that way.
So during this next month, as I dabble and explore to find my own way of meditating … I would love to hear your thoughts, what has worked for you and what you most get out of meditation (so as to keep me inspired along the way).
So please do share (even after I made that cheeky comment about piping up).
I love your blog Signy…and I love meditating.. and sometimes I get lazy too. I recently returned to yoga… love the Shavasana…might have a different spelling… When I meditate I feel held in a kind of God space.. this kind of loving energy space… and I think it helps me show up better with others as a result. It is kind of yummy just thinking of it now. And outside of yoga, sometimes I pray… a kind of unspoken conversation with all the people I love in my life… turning up love… letting light shine as it wants to. Love to you! Grateful for your reminder…
Prayer is a lot easier for me. When I can get into the flow of it and really open my heart. Those prayers make me cry with gratitude. Now if I could just get my meditation mojo on!
I’ve heard it said that prayer is talking and meditation is listening. My thought is that maybe there is a thread that connects all of your ideas. A feeling or a value that wants more attention rather than an actual to do list. I dream up grand travel plans when I meditate but I don’t travel a lot. It’s fun sometimes just to feel free to explore new ideas and not be attached to them. Good for you for taking this on Signy. You will find a way to make it your own.
Made me laugh…you and I are so alike. One time during a walking mediation (okay…my one of two ever walking meditations) I could not stop obsessing about the fact that the guy ahead of me needed some wd40 on his ankles to stop them from creaking.
I too also get flooded with ideas once my head becomes clear. Some of them brilliant… but not all that need to be acted upon. I find it is best to record them all in a roughshod mind dump sort of manner by writing them down or putting them in notes on my i phone. Often I later look at some and think they are ridiculous…others I don’t act on and watch someone else invent “my idea”.
As you can imagine…I cannot seem to figure out how to meditate either although I think it would be good for my very active mind.
Curious to see how this goes for you…
Yah, I am curious too. I fear that I will start putting them off until later and later in the day and it will be come a chore. I will try to think of ways to combat that.
The accountability part of it really helps me out.
For me, the essence of meditation is to be quiet and peaceful, to focus my attention on my breathing, to feel the air moving in and our of my mouth & nose, and to allow my thoughts to wander without judgement or creating “to-do”s. Any time, anywhere, and not having to have a reason. It only becomes “hard” when you add” terms & conditions”, such as “sit this way”, “think these thoughts”, “do it for at least 20 minutes”. Not that there’s anything “wrong” with adding these Ts & Cs if you choose to, as long as you don’t feel that you “have-to”.
For sure, if meditating results in you feeling exhausted, it’s not meditation; or, at least, it’s not the meditating that’s causing the exhaustion – it’s something else that’s also happening.
Since I’m a huge fan of meditation and meditate daily, I can tell you this is not uncommon. It takes the average mind 15-20 minutes to finish churning and quiet down once starting a meditation session. Deeper meditative states then follow. I have experienced this several times.
What I suggest is you give yourself time daily BEFORE meditation to do an “idea dump”.
If you’re familiar with Julia Cameron, author of “The Artist’s Way”, she uses journaling to do this in a process she calls “morning pages”. Check it out (just Google “morning pages”)
But whether you sit quietly and let the ideas flow, or jot them down one by one as they come, or journal, or whatever, by all means get the ideas out of your head and assess them later. Set aside time just for this “idea dump”. At least they will be in a form you can use and evaluate.
Then when your “idea dump” time (maybe 15-20 minutes)is up, it’s meditation time.
You might benefit from guided meditation, as it engages the mind from the onset so it can’t wander aimlessly. I frequently use Deepak Chopra’s various 21-day meditation series (there are 4 or 5 different series) and find it much easier to drop into a quiet meditative state once the audios get to that point with these. They’re fantastic and the guidance and mantras are relevant to what people most want out of life – health, abundance, happiness, purpose and love (relationships). Check those out too, and good luck!
Good to know the stats on that, I might just never have gotten out of stage 1, if you will, of meditation.
The thing is, and I could be not seeing something here, since I am new to it, that the ideas seem to come as a result of the meditation, not left overs that get in the way.
I have tried a few of the Deepak meditation series. They were lovely, and someone still didn’t quite get done.
Thanks for all of your thoughts.
Hey Signy! A form of meditation I’ve been practicing of late is an active visualization I learned from Drunvalo Melchezidek. From the energetic response I get – like energy jolts going through the body- I feel something is definitely going on. Basically, breathing in through the top of the head, breathing out through the heart, filling a ball with white light. Do that a few times, each time increasing the intensity of the ball of light. Then when it is really bright and charged up, send that ball of energy down through the base of the spine, through all the layers of the earth’s crust, and molten layers, to the magnetic core. Send energy to the core of the earth on a few out breaths and feel the connection with the core of the planet-our home, Mother Earth. Once that connection is established, create another ball of white light in the heart area the same way. This time, when that ball of light is charged up, send it to the sun. Feel that ball of white light residing at the core of the sun. And feel that energy returning to your heart. Now, with the connection to the planet and the sun, the two celestial bodies that sustain life, stustain us, feel the energy of the two connecting in the heart. Then I like to send that energy out to all beings on the planet, and to engulf the planet in love, and beyond.
I find this meditation keeps my mind occupied, and really raises my energy level, raises my vibration. It’s very palpable.
Something to play with anyways.
Best wishes for a fun-filled, vibration raising month of prayer and meditation!
Armando
Love that Armando. I will give it a go.
It is perfectly okay and maybe even normal (but what is that anyway?) for many thoughts and ideas to come crashing in while you are trying (desperately sometimes) to “just” meditate. I try to just let them flow in, flow through. and hopefully flow out. If they don’t flow out of their own accord I try to focus a little more on my breathing. I don’t feel that I have to do anything with the thoughts. I firmly believe that if they are truly important they will return to me when I am in a mental and/or physical place to deal with them. I like the previous person’s mention of Julia Cameron. The Artist’s Way is a great addition to my life.