Your soul really wants you to read this. Last week was emotionally, mentally, physically, and a bit spiritually overwhelming. I was just starting to get myself stable around some recent struggles when I was given the news that a friend had passed away. Whenever death is an immediate reality in my experience it shifts me in a big way. Besides dealing with the direct grief of losing a friend and processing the difficulty for his loved ones and family still here on earth, I also found myself re-examining my own priorities and actions. My mind became overwhelmed with: This is all temporary and can be taken at any moment. I can be taken at any moment. Am I really doing, am I really BEING what is most important to me or am I spending too much time on stuff that I’m gonna wish I kicked to the curb lifetimes ago? Luckily, I never feel like my life is a lie and that I need to start from scratch. However, I do tend to put myself into a tailspin of emotional turmoil when deeply exploring my priorities and what I give my time and energy to. My saving grace this week has been grounding, reconnecting to myself, and staying present. I have been feeling a really strong pull toward meditation lately which really crescendoed in its urgency this week. I’ve tried to do it in the past because it was something I was “supposed” to do, but we all know what happens when we try to do things out of expectation and not desire (usually I would just fall asleep or be really miserable while doing it). But this week was different. This week something at my core kept asking me to please just sit and be still and be present. So, I did. It felt really necessary. I did a long meditation with a fellow yoga teacher that also had the same desire. The rest of the afternoon I felt more balanced and much more sane. I got rockstar parking and found a lucky penny (as is per my usual when I’m in good terms with the Universe). When talking with a friend the next day we similarly talked about wanting to meditate more regularly so she and I are now keeping each other accountable with a daily commitment to ten minutes of meditation. This has been one of the most amazing and loving acts of self-care I’ve ever given myself. I’ve had some profound insights in those ten minutes. I’ve felt good about gifting myself that time every day without exception. No matter what insanity the day brings me I am always able to find ten minutes to just sit and connect and give myself what I need to keep myself on the right track. Now don’t be thinking that when I say “meditation” I’m sitting on a pretty cushion with the sunlight beaming on my face with enlightenment shining out my third eye. When I say “meditation” I literally mean I sit in one spot, close my eyes, and focus on my breath for ten minutes. Sometimes it’s in the yoga room, sometimes it’s sitting on my bed, sometimes it’s sitting on the floor of wherever I happen to be at the time. I breathe slowly, I feel the air in my nostrils, I notice how it smells. Sometimes ten minutes feels like way too long, but most times it feels too short. Sometimes I feel really clear, other days I feel like my mind is packed bookshelf and I’ve only managed to remove one book from the collection. Ten minutes. It’s 1/144th of your day. About the time it takes for your coffee to brew in the morning. The time it takes to watch a small chunk of your usual TV time. Way less than the time you take scrolling through your Facebook newsfeed. It doesn’t require going anywhere. It doesn’t require any special technology. It’s free. When people are asked how they know they are not taking care of themselves, the universal response sounds something like: “When I’m not taking care of myself I become an resentful and depressed crankypants that everyone in my path avoids like the plague because I’m prepared to take my wrath out on anyone that gets in my way.” The question is, are you willing to find ten minutes during your day to help tame that depressed crankypants? To practice a little self-care? To spare yourself (and the world around you) the pain of going through that full-on crazy-making state of being? Can you afford to not find ten minutes each day to do this? We all go through hard times, heart-wrenching times, soul bruising times. It’s at these times we are most apt to let go of any self-care practices in place. But ten minutes. Keep those sacred ten minutes for yourself. It will be the most important lifeline you can give yourself.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 13:01:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015