Meditation

The past year I have dealt with anxiety more than ever before.  As a young child remember feeling anxious before school, but it wasn't something that I often dealt with.  Then, in my late 30's, it became something I struggled with daily.  I'd find myself regularly feeling that sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach.  In moments where I felt at peace, I'd notice my mind wander toward thoughts that would trigger worry.

I understood the concept that I should focus on what I want, not what I don't want.  I battled with myself to stop worrying and "out think" the worry.  However, I'd continuously find myself struggling - to the point it was deeply affecting my well-being and impacting my relationships.  I started to feel desparate for change.

One day while scrolling through Instragram, I felt the urge to check out workshops by one of my favorite authors.  Although she's usually conducting workshops around the world, she had one in San Diego within a couple weeks. I took immediate action and went by myself to her workshop.  Within an hour I felt a great sense of connection and deep inspiration.  The strongest message she had to convey that day was the importance of meditation.  She reiterated how much it impacted her daily life and that she could not recommend it enough.

I had always been resistant toward meditation although I had read about the benefits: stress reduction, self-awareness, brain function improvement, reduction of memory loss, and even improved brain structure.  Well, ever since that workshop, for the past 8 months, I've been meditating most days.  I usually meditate for just for 10 minutes first thing in the morning (but for as little as 3 minutes if that's all I have that day).

I quickly found that I enjoy the meditation sessions.  Each time I notice that I feel better afterwards.  Within just a few sessions, I started noticing that the time I spent worrying and the physical impact of it was reducing.  I felt an overall stronger grounding that made me feel more calm and peaceful in general.

It was very interesting to see how busy my mind was at first - to directly observe my desire to constantly analyze everything.  Now I have more awareness and control and I am more effective with my thinking.  I typically use Headspace's guided meditations.  They have a free set you can try which helped me build strong habits.  More recently I've been meditating without the guidance and enjoying that - but at first I found that difficult to do.

With the recent COVID-19 changes, my habits have been in flux and I've noticed some of that anxiety coming back.  Making sure to prioritize the daily meditation is the single most impactful habit I have.

Wishing you peace and harmony.



Reference:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/meditation-mind-body-spirit_n_5291361