Do you meditate?
My mind runs at a million miles an hour and when I’ve tried to meditate in the past, it’s gone something like this.
Me: Think of nothing. Try and think of nothing.
Me: Oh, something!
Me: You’re supposed to be thinking of nothing. Be all zen, lady!
Me: Nothing, nothing, nothing, I’m thinking of noth… something!
Me: Sheesh. Meditate. Is it really that hard? Think of nothing. Count to 10.
Me: 1, 2, 3, 4, 23. My favourite number is 23. I like that number. I think Michael Jordan wore 23 and David Beckham too… SSHH. You’re supposed to be meditating.
Me: Zen. Zen. Zen. I am calm.
Me: Screw this. I’m getting up and checking my emails.
Yesterday I lost my mind. Like seriously, it totally jumped out of my head, leaped into the head of an angry person and relocated for a little while. You know last week when I quit? Well, I kinda didn’t recover. There has been little bits and pieces just eating away at me, and yesterday I totally went a little bat-shit crazy. It was only momentary, but it happened.
And the only thing I thought would fix it was meditating {and cake I’m sure, but I had none}. So I did it. I sat on my bed, put on a meditating App and I did it.
I cheated a little. I was supposed to have my eyes closed, but I opened one and saw my dog watching me. I did wonder what she was thinking.
It’s a guided meditation, so a man speaks all the way through it, for the whole 10 minutes. He asked me to concentrate on my breathing. Thinking about the rise and fall of my chest, and the breaths in and out. I did really well. I didn’t get side-tracked. I did as I was told. Until the man stopped talking for a moment. I thought he’d left me. I went from calm, to near stressed thinking, “WHY HAVE YOU LEFT ME? WE’RE SUPPOSED TO BE MEDITATING TOGETHER!”
I opened my eyes and checked my phone to see it had died mid-meditation. Nope, still alive and kicking.
And then he returned, “Now feel your feet resting on the floor. Feel the sensation of your feet touching the ground.”
And all was OK with the world again.
I meditate in the morning for 3-5 minutes. I do my best to focus on breathing in and out, without trying to control it. I’ve been taught to plaster the word “thinking” into my mind when I start thinking. I don’t label it as good or bad, I just say “thinking.” I’ve only been practicing this for about 5 months and it’s gotten much better over time.
Good luck!
Oh my goodness! My brain is so busy, it just never stops. My body has a hard job keeping up with it. Plus I have a really short attention span which doesn’t help. I once tried hypnosis which I am sure didn’t work but did give me some useful strategies to unpack my brain. I try to imagine and visualise all the thinks that I am thinking and worries that I may be worrying leaving my brain (usually as pink clouds) while I focus on my breathing. Then I try and relax my whole body, breathe calmly and wait for the waves of relaxation to wash over me. (Just for the record, they’re pink too.) Crazy as it sounds, it kind of works. It’s not meditation but I think it might be the closest I’m going to get. Seeing as you meditated yesterday, I hope today will be a Great Cake Day xx
I really dig this idea. My psychologist once tried to teach me to do a similar thing but with colours. If I feel anxious, think of my calm colour and visualise it pouring itself from top to bottom over my body. I never got the hang of it, but maybe I should try again.
Your meditation conversation with yourself? That was me trying to fall asleep last night.
This morning? Wide awake at 4.20am. Still wide awake at 5am. So I got up. I’ve done 2 loads of washing and read all of my favourite blogs in the quiet peacefulness of the early morning. It’s been bliss (especially knowing I don’t have to get home from work and do the washing).
I’m starting an introduction to yoga course next week and I can’t wait! Tuesday nights will be my zen time. I just hope the teacher doesn’t stop talking…
The best way I learnt to meditate was through yoga. Each movement is accompanied with a breath so you don’t realise you’re doing the breathing part because you’re focusing on how good the stretches feel. But I’ve also learnt meditation isn’t just about sitting still and focusing on our breathing. Meditation can be a shower, a horse ride in nature, or even cooking or reading. Whatever helps still your mind and bring you inner calm is a form of meditation, as it will naturally slow and even out your breathing! For some people (me included lol) I can’t just sit still and focus on my breathe and think of nothing. I also use crystals to help me meditate though. Have you tried the Smiling Mind app? It’s pretty cool 🙂
Definitely! I have anxiety, so meditating has been recommended to me several times before. I tried a similar guided meditation app the other day, and I just can’t switch off. It doesn’t help that thinking about my breathing gets me a bit panicky, so makes me more stressed rather than less. I wish I could do it though – I know people who rave about it.
I just read your I quit post and laughed out loud! Thank you. So comforting that I’m not alone in those sorts of days. And you will have a better day today. And it’s OK to vent.
I can’t do the lying-down-closed-eyes-meditation. My brain takes that as a signal to ramp up and my body wants to fidget. Years of yoga haven’t even made a dent in that. Last night I was so out of sorts, when I sat down at my sewing machine I purposely picked straight lines to sew so there was no chance of stuffing it up. And hey presto, at the end of the fist seam I was already much calmer. The stress of having all my sewing stuff temporarily spread over the house had lessened a tiny bit too.
My brain doesn’t like me meditating or trying to fall asleep. It is hard to explain but I feel pain when going in to that silent mind sense. I still can’t find a way to control my mind. 🙁
meditation all seemed a bit heeby jeeby to me until I tried Smiling Mind – it really walks you through it and keeps your head in the zone so that instead of thoughts being annoying, they are just clouds in the sky! But I also like the idea that meditation is just mindfulness so that instead of setting aside time to sit, it’s really about focusing all your energy and your thinking in what your doing at that present moment- even if it’s writing an email or baking 🙂 x
My brain is too full and so many people recommended meditation to me but I couldn’t sit still long enough. Until a friend said she meditates so that she can be more creative and that got me interested. For a while I was doing it every day (guided recordings) and now I remember to do it every few days and I love it. It has completely changed how I think and process things. And I think it has made me a clearer thinker too. Meditation FTW!
I can never meditate because I find my mind just thinks about other things. I was doing a guided one for awhile, but the guy told me to picture a peaceful place and what I am doing. I would be near a river, then pick up a hot kettle, burn myself and wake myself up from the meditation!
Might have to try again.
When I’m overwhelmed I get a massage , drink coffee, eat something yummy and go see a movie. It must be just me , alone. No one talk to me just leave me the hell alone.
I do the same thing when trying to meditate. I remember being at school and going through a guided meditation… I couldn’t gets my thoughts to shut the hell up. I am pretty good with Yoga as I am doing something I need to concentrate on so everything else fades away. My Sister has been having trouble with insomnia so she downloaded a meditation app and it helped her fall asleep. I call that a win!
I hope you are feeling a little better. Jx
Haaa your meditation conversation {with yourself} literally made me Laugh Out Loud! Because my brain is the same. I lie down at night, and no matter how exhausted I am, my brain still rambles on and on. I often wonder what a quiet mind would sound like 🙂 I should probably give meditation a go!
Hope your head quietens and your days start to breeze a little easier Telle.
C x
Yep, I meditate 🙂 It was a lifesaver when my three kids were little and my mind was so busy. I’d set aside 20 minutes each day, where my partner would watch the kids and I’d lock myself in the spare room. And it was weird – I felt like it wasn’t doing anything, but the effects were subtle and I didn’t realise how much more calm and relaxed (and able to cope) it made me until I stopped doing it! So I started again.
Mostly, I sit in silence and focus on my breath, but sometimes I do guided meditations (it depends on the voice of the person though, some are a bit irritating!). And sometimes I listen to nature sounds and imagine I’m in a forest on on a beach somewhere.
Haha I’m like you! I have found guided meditations are the best because they give me something to focus on and I don’t have to make it up as I go along (which I don’t have the discipline to do)! After a good one, I can feel like I’ve woken from a refreshing nap (not the kind that makes you feel worse). I haven’t done it in a while, though. Maybe I should give it another go. Now if only I could find a quiet moment!
I’ve got so much junk in my head I end up doing exactly what you do and think too much about something when meditating so no I don’t even try anymore. I usually go for a walk or go op shopping, would you believe. Looking for treasures seems to distract and reset me. Funny huh?
We had a guided meditation session at sleep school and when you put a group of sleep-deprived parents in a room together and talk softly to them…. The nurse woke us up after an hour 🙂 Must have been the day for it yesterday. The plot was lost. I’m still looking for it, give me 18 or so years, or however long it may be until the government lets me retire and I might get there… I’m better at meditating when guided by an English accent which is quite insane really as I was stressed the ENTIRE time I lived there!
I’ve tried a range of different meditations – guided is easiest especially when you are starting out and trying to get used to it. It goes hand in hand with my yoga now, and I’m doing teacher training. You have to be gentle on yourself and a few minutes (or even a quick mindful moment, I call them #parentingpause will do at a pinch – stop at a amber light and switch your mind off, read a random page of a random book and just get your head out of its own space). I’ve also been experimenting with kid’s meditation videos and I have a couple that are quite popular on you-tube.
I don’t meditate but I pray and download what is in my brain and this really helps. But like you my mind can switch to thinking about something while I’m praying. I hope your week gets better lovely. X
When my kids were little like yours I found meditating very hard because it is intense being mum to teeny people. Maybe just try deep breathing and saying breathe in your head. Deep diaphragm breathing is super calming x
I tried meditation as a young adult and used to go through a process to relax every part of your body (only took about 3-5 minutes) and then every breath going out I would imagine a smoke stack blowing out all the bad things of the day – there would be faces, people, words, images all just disappearing into the sky – there were times when one face would blow out in every breath 10 times over, but it really did help to get rid of everything and end the day like that. I now have some hypnosis recordings I listen to, but I am usually asleep before they are finished, so I hope that they work by osmosis and my subconscious is learning things!!!!
Practice does help so keep it up and try a few different things – some days I can’t get into it to switch off all the things going, so just get up again and try again the next day!
I’m just like you but when I finally win against thoughts, I really feel renewed !
My dad gave me a guided meditation CD. Unfortunately the man speaking on it was from London, and I just kept laughing at his cockney accent.
I’ve never tried meditating but I think I need to download this app!
This is so me…I really want to try harder at it but I can’t get my brain to switch off!!!
In the beginning about ten years ago that was me, I now have several ways I meditate, once a week I do a full guided meditation finding a voice and sound that resinates was the key for me. I also use zentangle and walking as mindful, semi conscious forms of meditating at night I use breathing techniques to help go to sleep and in the morning I focus on my breathing for about 10 breathes and express some gratitude or thankfulness and set up an intention to a positive day.
I get wigged out when the guided mediation stops too! But i just think the thoughts and let them go. breathe in and outttttt
I use an app called smiling mind. It’s a really good intro to meditation. I use it whenever I feel like I’m starting to feel overloaded and in a negative space. But it’s something I should really practice everyday. I can’t explain how much better I feel after meditating!
Blimey that sounds like my conversation with myself! I have attempted meditating several times in my life but am giving it a concentrated go at the moment with what sounds like the same app as yours. It is so hard not to get annoyed with yourself, but it is also very reassuring to hear that so many of us are the same!
What I find helps me is going for a walk or just sitting outside and concentrating on 5 things I can see, feel, hear and it helps slow me right down.
Apparently practice helps with it all. Stick with it!!
I meditate, I just happen to be swimming laps at the time. Nothing like following that black line to order your thoughts and give you some room. But man-oh-man this could be me when I first tackled Headspace. Haha. I hear it gets better. I have, temporarily, given up.