What is meditation to you?
If you’re anything like me, alone time is rare recently and meditation time has gone completely out the window. When we think of meditation, many of us picture it like the photo above. And then we think with everything going on in the world, how can that even be possible right now. We all see and hear the positive health benefits linked with meditation. There is no doubt it is vital to our wellness and health. But it is important to know that meditation can be in many ways and forms. It doesn’t have to be the picture we all have in our head. In order to make it happen, we must open our minds to what meditation is and can be for us.
Wikipedia says meditating is “a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.” Not all forms of meditation require you to sit still nor do most of them have you sit in silence and try to clear your mind. I may have lost my formal practice of meditation in the last few months but I do spend time everyday in some form of meditation and I urge you all to do the same. Here are the ways that I find meditation in my day:
Taking Oz on a morning walk with just us, no one else and no distractions
Listening to music while I clean that has no words or listening to Carla Bruni (because her music is beautiful and I don’t speak french so I have no clue what she’s saying)
Listening to a story in the car. Apple released Meditative Story, the first podcast where you listen to personal stories sometimes by famous people you may know and others by people you’ve never heard of. They tell their stories with meditative prompts mixed throughout.
Turning my music off in the car and just driving in silence
Turning my TV or music off at home and focusing on whatever task I’m performing. Remember, anything can be meditative if you just focus on it! For me that’s cooking.
Rocking Oz to sleep. I do focus on my breathing because research has shown that kids can feel a parents energy. Have young kids? Reading them a book before bed can be meditation if you’re in that moment instead of thinking of the next thing to do.
I invite you to find ways to fit meditation into your day instead of feeling like you need to take a break in your day in order to meditate.
“Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.
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