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You are 100 percent capable of meditating. Let us show you why and how. Let us teach you how beneficial meditation is and why it is so important for you.
MM – 540 – Trying to Meditate is Winning
Hello, everybody, and welcome to this week’s episode of Motivate Me!
It’s Me! Time here on Motivate Me! and we are working on coming back from flat.
Before we start, let’s get into the right headspace. Let’s engage in the idea that this is time where YOU are the priority. Let’s take two slow, deep breaths to get us centered. Just follow me.
Today’s focus is: Trying to Meditate is Winning
Please don’t bail on me right out of the gate because you believe you are incapable of meditating. So many of us think we can’t do it. So many of us think we aren’t supposed to have any thoughts and that if we do, we failed.
Please hear this: Just like how you cannot stop the heart from beating, you cannot stop you brain from thinking. We all have thoughts when meditating. Our goal when meditating is not to not think at all, it is to let those thoughts pass, watch them like a movie, and then gently still the mind again.
Prayer is a form of meditation.
Listening to music is a form of meditation.
Observing the ocean or a sunset or snowfall is a form of meditation.
And meditation is a form of self-care. It’s rest. It’s stillness. It’s relaxation. It’s enlightening. This is why even by just trying to meditate you are winning, because even if you think you could have done better, you still greatly benefitted.
It took me time to understand all of this, which is why I want to share with you how it has benefited me. I didn’t know anyone who meditated and the only image I had of anyone meditating was of people who didn’t look like me, so I assumed it wasn’t for me. I tried it only once or twice over the years and I never lasted long with it.
But as I got more curious about spiritually, I started to pay more attention to the idea of meditation, and I paid even more attention a few years later when I started my coaching program.
Sometime during that time, I came across Deepak Chopra and Oprah’s guided meditation series. What I really loved about them, even though you have to purchase their 21-day programs and there are many free experiences on YouTube, was a couple of things.
First, Deepak and Oprah teach powerful concepts in the time preceding the meditation that were aligned with what I had been learning in my coaching program. This was helpful to me because it reaffirmed what I’d been learning and it revisited the concepts in a new way. Also, Deepak and Oprah give you a daily mantra that you use to refocus your mind when it begins to wander. This mantra is the daily intention, and the 21 mantras strung together are designed to help you achieve a specific goal. Something else I really liked about their programs was the quality of the recordings, Chopra’s speaking style, and the twenty-minute timeframe.
These are all important aspects to consider when looking at the different meditations available. You can choose from a ten-minute experience or one that plays all-night long while you sleep. There are guided meditations where a host guides listeners through the process, and then there are those that are music only. There are male hosts and female hosts, and then, there are endless focus topics to pick from. If you want to gain confidence or self-worth, lose weight, overcome self-sabotage, grow your intuition, connect with source, or you have a different focus area, there are offerings for pretty much everything.
One of my favorite guided meditations is by Mindvalley and it’s on YouTube titled, “A Relaxing Guided Meditation to Boost Creativity.” It’s eighteen and a half minutes long and I think it’s a great starting point for new meditators. My husband, John, even enjoyed it. Someone else I follow on YouTube is Jess Shepherd, she has many, many meditations and I feel I have benefited from all of them.
So, those are three good recommendations for you to look into: Deepak Chopra and Oprah, Mindvalley, and Jess Shepherd.
There is so much power in meditation. I am a very down to earth person and I always viewed meditation as a little “woo woo,” but when I saw some of the most successful people in the world, like monks and basketball players and world leaders and billionaires touting meditation, I thought it was cause to listen and experiment.
And now, I credit meditation with giving me the idea to travel the 50 states in 90 days to interview people about passion. I believe it gave me the awareness to pick up signs from the universe to receive the idea and act on it. I credit meditation with giving me the idea to reach out to The Max gym to sponsor my workouts before my ninety-day trip. I credit meditation with getting me back from flat right now.
Why? Because I took the time to still my mind five days a week. Because I believe that my purpose and my path is known somewhere inside me, and that stilling the chatter of the mind is the way to discover that.
My wish is for you to make these same exciting discoveries to enhance your own life. I wish for you to power down your body and get into this insanely relaxed state where when you’re done, you feel like you had the best nap, and you go throughout your days in a markedly calmer state. This really happens.
Here’s the one thing you do need to remember: When you meditate, the answers and revelations you seek don’t usually pop up for you during the process. Other ideas will often come to you, but it may not be what you’re seeking. When the answers you are looking for do pop up for you, they will probably not be obvious. Think of them as being subtle, gentle nods. This takes patience and awareness.
So this sounds painful, right? First, I have to force my body and mind to be still, which is often a battle. And then, I have to be patient enough to wait God knows how long for some kind of understanding to come my way, and hopefully, I am aware enough to recognize this understanding for what it is.
Yes. For you to gain this kind of clarity in your life, that is exactly what you need to do. No one said it’s simple, but I will say it’s worth it.
Some people say they can’t fit meditation into their lives. If this is something you want to do, you will find a way. I suggest starting with just ten minutes a day, and ten minutes when first waking or on a lunch break or before bed is doable. I mean, how much time do we spend on social media sites? We can meditate in our car before or after the gym or when waiting in the school parking lot to pick up our children. It’s all about the want to do it and the planning of the time for it.
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I am going to leave you with some truth talk from me to you: Meditation is something you need to give a concerted effort. In my opinion, it is the single most simple and difficult help you can give yourself. It has been my experience that if you take the time to create silence and then just listen in the days to come, over time, insights will surface that can change your life.
Remember, you Motivate Me!