Meditation

Meditation: the act or process of spending time in quiet thought.

Mindfulness: the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one's thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis.

When I think of meditation what comes to my mind is a vision of someone sitting on the floor with their legs crossed while they chant.

Or, when you hear the word meditation, you might react by saying to yourself that there is no way you could sit and think about nothing for an hour.

The truth is there are many ways that you can meditate. The key is to bring mindfulness into your life, or to “stop and smell the roses”.  If you can do this you will find that daily stress and regrets from your past will disappear. Not an easy thing to achieve, but with practice it can become simple and automatic.

For me there are certain times that I know I am more in tune with what I am doing and not thinking of anything else:

-        When I cook I feel my whole body release any stress and I am totally engaged in the joy of whatever I am creating.

-        When I write and put pen to paper I can feel my thoughts spill out over the pages. In those moments I am lost in the thoughts and emotions of my writing.

-        Sitting or walking by the lake and looking out over the water always brings peace to my soul, and allows me to let go of negativity

It can be whatever brings you to a state of quiet – listen to music and concentrate on the rhythm and words; take extra time to slowly drink your morning coffee or tea; enjoy silence as you drive to work in the morning; take a slow walk and concentrate on your footsteps; do something creative. Whatever works for you, and remember to breathe slowly and get lost in these moments.

You don’t have to dedicate an hour or more of your day to meditation. All that matters is you find some time in your day. As I have told my girls, even if you just take a few moments when you wake up in the morning before you get out of bed. Just close your eyes and breathe; try to let go of any negative thoughts and invite the positive in to guide your day.

Once you incorporate this into your day, you will find that your life will be filled with more positive and peaceful moments. And these peaceful moments will sooth your soul.