Silence, please!
It’s the final week of the four-part series on how to get out of any funk that’s keeping you down. We’ve laughed, danced and volunteered. There’s only one thing left to do…
Tip #4 — Meditate
Yes, meditate. You may be thinking, “Oh sure, that works for you but it’s never worked for me. If I try to meditate, I’ll be in an even worse mood than before!”
Many people think that meditation is completely shutting off their minds. It’s not, thank goodness!
Meditation is simply being relaxed and focused at the same time. When we’re just relaxing, we’re likely falling asleep. When we’re just focused, we’re likely going through our to-do lists or completing a task in a robot-like trance. When we’re both relaxed and focused, we start to become more present and look at the world from our soul’s perspective.
If we’re fully present, although we may be sad or angry in the moment, if we truly feel our emotions and then just focus on our breath and presence, those emotions will generally start to subside and a gentle calmness will begin to emerge.
Most of our stress, anxiety, worry, sadness and depression comes from reflecting on the past or projecting into the future. If we just sit and be, we tend to realize things aren’t nearly as bad as we had imagined. Our mind begins to get quiet and our soul begins to awaken, remembering our true spirit and connection to something much larger than ourselves.
When we let our minds control our lives, we experience endless drama. When we begin to identify with our souls (instead of our minds), our lives become much simpler, easier. We start to feel more joy and peace. Everything is a bit sweeter. And we begin to let go of things that don’t really matter.
I’ve heard it said that prayer is how we talk to God and meditation is how we listen. That certainly has been my experience. It’s amazing how a little silence can calm my nerves, comfort me and provide clear insight.
Curious? I’ve created a guided meditation for you to try. You can listen to it HERE. This meditation focuses on visualization and spirituality. There are many ways to meditate and this is just one approach that I’ll be teaching at my upcoming workshop.
Wishing you a peaceful and stress-free week!
Heather