Meditation Woes? Try This
Many of us aspire to meditate daily and fall short of that practice. I find that I am more successful with another mindful practice, which has a meditative quality and reaps similar benefits -- what I consider active or moving meditation. Here is how it works:
I set an intention to be present as much as possible as I go through my daily tasks. Now I say ‘as much as possible’ because our minds are always wanting to do what they are meant to do – which is think. And that includes thinking about the past, which can cause frustration, anger, regret and other negative emotions or thinking about the future which can evoke worry and the like. The mindful practice is to be present and find what you can appreciate about what you are present with: the thing, the person or the activity.
For example:
Drinking a cup of tea and enjoying the beauty of the cup, appreciating the people who were responsible for harvesting the tea, feeling the good feelings of the warm tea in your mouth and throat.
Making your bed and appreciating the restful sleep it produced, the beauty of the color and texture of the linens, and perhaps the partner you love who shared the bed.
Washing, peeling and cutting the vegetables for a meal, appreciating their beautiful colors and being grateful for what will become good nutrition for you and your family.
Selecting and then cutting a rose or other flowers from your garden to bring into your home for enjoyment of their beauty and fragrance.
Driving to work or to the grocery store and appreciating the feel of the steering wheel under your hands, being grateful that you have a functioning automobile to assist you.
If this is a new idea for you, begin with one activity or thing that you can be more mindfully engaged with and feel appreciation for. Set the intention now.
Whatever it is, strive to be present more often and to appreciate the moment. When we are in a state of appreciation and gratitude, there is no space for stress, anxiety or other negative emotions. And, more good news: there is scientifically validated information available to us now that feeling appreciation in a relaxed state produces hormones that are very beneficial to our good health whereas being in a stressful, chaotic state produces very destructive hormones.
We can choose to be conscious of (just noticing) what is in front of us, appreciate and be grateful on a daily basis -- thus doing great good for our bodies and our psyches.
Whether doing traditional meditation or the kind I have outlined above, your nervous system will appreciate it. When we are in the state of calm and appreciation we have optimal cortical function which means we will have both heart intelligence and upper brain intelligence more available to us. For more information about heart intelligence and the hormones released during stress vs. calm, visit www.HeartMath.com.
©2008/2009 Beverly Staley, MS, Certified Life Coach
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