Today and every day, I am thankful

My favorite spot to meditate

Hi guys,

It's been a little while since my last post. Since the last one was quite dense, I let a few weeks pass by to give you time to read the entire thing. I will, however, make an effort to reduce the amount of words I do share as I'm sure it can get quite boring to read me after some time and it gets discouraging to see all that text to read in the post.

Let it be

Lately, I've noticed that my battles usually have to go with letting things go. Be it a situation, a person, an object, the solution was often found once my emotions subsided and I let go of the anger and worry. Being human, it is quite easy to fall in a blasé routine and forget what's really matters. When that happens, it is important to develop a reflex to put things back in perspective to help make light of the situation and focus on the positive. Easier said than done, trust me, I am working on it every day. Here's an example...

My father came over two weekends ago to install a new ceiling fan with a light since our original fan is without light and quite noisy. Everything went great! The fan was installed and I even had a new remote control to adjust it. the following Thursday, I wanted to show my neighbor my new bedroom overhaul since I'd also updated other details like the comforter and she hadn't seen it yet. I press the button on the remote control to turn on the fan before inviting her over but nothing happens. I try again, again. zero - no movement. I then try to aim the remote better but still nothing. In short: it had only been 6 days the fan had been up and it was already broken... I was furious! Yet ANOTHER thing that went wrong this week and just when I wanted to show my friend, that's when it breaks. I called my dad and let him know what happened and then, I quite literally took a pillow and screamed in it (nice visual heh?). I felt SO much better after and that's when my mind was clear enough for me to think:

1) How bad is this situation in the grand scheme of things? not bad, it can be fixed

2) Is my health in danger?  Did I lose my legs or something? No....

3) Could I have prevented this? No...

4) Is anything here in my control with regards to breaking the fan? No

5) What is in my control? The fact that I can fix it and the way I react to this

6) Awesome, let's move on to fixing and letting go.

So my anger and frustration were calmed quite quickly ONCE I evacuated them (pillow screaming). I was able to move faster to something else and let it go. The emotions do have to be expressed. They need to be acknowledged, released and accepted. The challenge is not to let them take over the situation and rather, realize what is truly important - being alive, well and focus on what can be fixed. I noticed that there was a lot of such little frustrating situations in a day that can easily overpower us. Most of the time, we cannot control many aspect in the issue at hand and that adds fuel to the fire. So in essence:

Step 1: Evacuate your emotions by expressing them (don't shoot the messenger or the receiver that happens to be there)

Step 2: Take a step back, how bad is it...really

Step 3: Accept what happened and let it go...which will allow you to come back in the present

Like I said, it's a work in progress and not an easy thought process to do without over-analyzing.

Meditation 10 minutes a day tops!

...And when I say meditation, I don't mean sitting like the Buddha statue and humming (unless of course you want to do this...). Meditation is, to me, a few moments to breathe, quite literally, and calm our speeding thoughts by getting in sync with ourself. It brings us back in the present time and makes us realize how we are feeling (stressed, tired, happy, etc.). I appreciate this effect especially in the morning as the day begins. After a good workout, I will go on the rooftop terrasse, sit on the bench facing the sunrise and play a 6-10 minute meditation podcast on my iPhone. I started doing this every other morning and I can't say enough how nice it feels. I close my eyes, listen to the speaker and let it guide me. Also, I can select from many recorded podcasts depending on what I want to focus on at that moment. It truly allows me to anchor myself and starts the day on an even more positive note, especially if I am feeling particularly stressed. I calm my breathing, I release the tension and I gain perspective. I strongly recommend it! Honnestly, if you don't have time for this but you have time to smoke a cigarette? You need to do this!

My favorite podcast: "My Meditation Station" by Stin Hansen - I love her voice and her style! There are tons of others out there you can try out.

If you can't fall asleep? She's got an episode for that. You keep obsessing about something? She's got an episode for that too.

It's 10 minutes, feels nice and grounds you...try it out!

Bee...Zen xx

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