Long ago and far away I wrote about how I scoffed at the concept of meditation and how a 21-day challenge made me a covert. (See “Who, me? Meditate? HAAAAHAHAHAHA!“)
It’s so odd that I was the last to embrace this practice at the time. I had studied a bit about the various types of meditation and how some of the practices in meditation and focused breathing could stop angina attacks, panic attacks, etc. In my head, maybe I thought they were for people with “big” problems. I’m not even remembering now what made me try it, but I learned a lot.
Since then, I’ve come to realize that focused meditation (the method that uses a mantra) teaches you to control your thoughts. For people with any kind of anxiety–this is really huge. You are training yourself to control your brain so that if and when it wants to run away with wild thoughts that can lead to panic, you are practiced in the art of turning it back to the thoughts you WANT to focus on. It’s huge.
I have Christian friends who hear that I meditate and immediately believe that I’m performing some kind of occult practice. I’m not sure where this comes from. You can choose any word or sound to be your mantra to focus on and the practice itself does nothing but clear the mind of all other intrusive thoughts–teaching you to be still and focus. I know many who do this so that they are open to hear “the voice of God”. The fact that meditation is an Eastern tradition shouldn’t make it automatically suspect. More thought needs to go into deciding when something from a faith you don’t share (or something from any kind of faith if you don’t have a faith of your own) is truly in conflict with your beliefs and values. Where meditation is concerned, I can’t see how it conflicts with any faith or atheism. It’s not prayer. It’s practice.
Anyway, I’ve fallen woefully off the wagon and I do believe that this could provide an enormously positive impact for me–and do so quickly. The first time I tried it, the change was evident to my husband in less than 2 weeks. When I’ve returned to the practice, the change has been evident in even less time.
Now, I’m going to share this practice with my 12-year old to see if it helps him to keep himself on track and less distracted as well. We had tried having him use a mindfulness practice (where he mentally repeats to himself what he’s doing) and he doesn’t seem to manage that as well. I learned about mindfulness from an incredible book called “Buddhism for Mothers” (which by no means is a book about teaching mothers how to be Buddhist but instead offers some Buddhist concepts that all mothers of all faiths can integrate into their parenting.
If you’re someone that struggles with anxiety, is easily distracted or needs the TV to fall asleep (which is usually a means of getting your brain to focus on the sound of the show as opposed to thinking your thoughts), you might very well benefit from a focused meditation practice.
Otherwise, what could you be doing to help yourself feel more focused? Have you tried a mindfulness practice? Meditation? I invite you to give it a chance!
Clear your mind.
Have more peace and calm.
#jointhejourney
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