Meditate and Be Gracious

The last couple of weeks have been exhausting, with several people seemingly coming at me and demanding my time, energy, money, and attention.  Unfortunately, I spent a good portion of this past weekend in a bit of funk.  But, I’m happy to say I’ve found my way out of it.  I was able to spend Memorial Day doing some yoga and quietly relaxing, which normally helps.  But, by the end of the day I was so disgusted with my mood that I sat down and meditated for about 5 minutes.  I was so amazed that after only a few minutes, I felt infinitely better.  Proof that meditating can do wonders, even if you only have a few minutes!  I was so excited by my experience, that I wanted to put together a few short guided meditations.
 
I believe that it really comes down to what you focus on.  If you’re constantly focusing on the negative – what you don’t have, how life isn’t fair, or what others keep taking from you, etc.  – then you’re just going to be miserable.  But, if you can focus on the good things you have in your life, your spirit will be uplifted.  That being said, it’s not necessarily easy to focus on the positive, and being grateful.  For some reason, the bad stuff is so much easier to believe.  (Am I the only one that feels this way?)  But, even if you are experiencing a learning curve in your life at the moment, I’ll bet you can still remember a time that you felt completely happy.  Or, a moment that you are just really grateful for.  When I started doing this exercise this past weekend, I couldn’t believe how ungrateful I was.  I was so miserable, that it took me quite a few minutes to come up with a moment that I was so completely thankful for.  Everything in my mind was blurry thanks to the "life’s unfair" cloud cover.  I finally came up with a few moments spent with my family and friends that couldn’t be tainted with frustration and bitterness.  One instance included a recent Thanksgiving where we were all around the table, simply enjoying each other’s company while eating delicious food.  Once, I found this one moment, I was able to stop the negative cycle, and quell the voices that kept saying I was hopeless. 

Ironically, or perhaps not so ironically, I can across this article from Marc and Angel on Tuesday morning on my train ride into work.  The blog post really spoke to me.  I remember a period of my life when I looked at my future and I saw nothing but bright possibilities.  I was going to do so many amazing things.  And, then somewhere in the last 8-10 years, I lost that.  I started to feel old, hopeless, and completely left behind.  It feels like I’m too old, and therefore pointless to continue to try to reach for these things I want in my life.  I desperately need to find that internal spark that comes from looking at the future and seeing endless possibilities.  And, I believe that the first step to finding that spark, is to start being grateful for all the wonderful blessings I have in my life.