Have you felt it lately? Maybe it crept in with the cooler weather, the high pressure
slipping under a cold front. It
arrives without fail each autumn for me:
an ever-increasing tempo of obligations, expectations, and
not-to-be-missed opportunities that snowball into Thanksgiving and then crash
into the winter holidays.
My first line of defense is to just breathe. Breathe
in. Breathe out. Repeat.
Breathe. Relax the face. The shoulders. Breathe. Let the world spin without me for one
minute. Maybe two. Breathe. Ground my feet. Straighten my spine. Find a lightness.
Breathe in peace.
Breathe out stress. Breathe
in expansion. Breathe out
confinement. Breathe in
acceptance. Breathe out judgment.
I wake early in the morning to have my quiet moment of the
day. To sit with a cup of tea in
the chilly darkness of the morning and connect with that which will always be,
no matter what the day brings. My
breath. This earth. The stillness.
I will carry this core of peace inside me throughout the
commotion of the day. Returning to
it whenever I need it. Returning
to calmness. To stillness.
I find that this stops the snowballing stress and I can find
greater perspective, patience, and tolerance.
If you are interested in how mindfulness, meditation, and
inward focus can benefit you or your children, please look into a wonderful
upcoming opportunity:
On Saturday, November 10th,
Joe Klein from Inward Bound Mindfulness Education is coming to Ekoji (3411
Grove Avenue) to hold a day retreat.
From 9am-4pm, there will be a retreat for adults. From 6pm-10pm, there will be a teen
event.
Ekoji offers a Family Mindfulness Meditation from 1pm-2pm
this Sunday, October 14th with a Teen Mindfulness Meditation
following from 2:30pm-3:30pm. This
is offered monthly. What a great
way to establish a family practice of meditation!
If right now you are saying to yourself, “That’s fine for others,
but not for me. I have no time and
no quiet in my life,” I offer you this video on One Moment Meditation. Try it out …
This is utterly perfect, and at just the right moment. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI wake up early to work out, and one of the things I like about it is that the world is dark and still, and nobody in my family is awake yet. While I get a small bite to eat, I usually read something short and meditative - currently Thich Nhat Hahn's "Your True Home".