guided meditation
Thriving In The Winter Of Our Discontent
Enduring a harsh winter with extreme weather, in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, is not an easy feat. It reminds me of the ‘winter of our discontent’ that Shakespeare refers to in the first line of his play Richard III. This winter-pandemic combo is certainly a ‘double whammy’ that could potentially break any camel’s back! But how we choose to deal with these times will determine how it will serve to improve our lives in the long run.
Winter is actually a great time to think about spiritual and personal self-care, especially in places where there are extreme weather conditions. Where I live, in the state of Maine, the winters weather conditions can be severe, making it a time to just surrender, to give myself permission to rest my body, mind and spirit.
It is a time to go within, to meditate, to read, write, paint, to do things that feed the soul. It is good time to connect deeply with our inner being, the subconscious mind, the higher self. It is a time to retreat, allowing the mind to regroup, and to replenish your body, mind, and spirit. When we take the time to get acquainted with ourselves again, we find truth, wisdom, mental and even physical healing.
If you are going through a snowed-up winter right now where you live, use this time to review your bucket list. Reflect on all that is good about your life. Think about things that are not working for you anymore and the best course of action to move forward. Give yourself time to process it all.
The past year has also been a time of getting to know who we really are and what matters to us most. The global pandemic had some major shocks and surprises in store for those of us who had lost touch with ourselves and the people around us. I have been helping many clients working through these challenges.
For many the pandemic has notably been a time of intense solitude. A time of learning to be comfortable in your own company. In the beginning, the hope was that life would go back to normal in just a few months. But as time has gone on, we have had adjust to the so-called ‘new normal.’
Manifesting Meditation For Beginners
The practice of meditation is tremendously powerful and has impacts on both our spiritual and physical well-being, as well as on our reality. Creating a routine meditation practice can help to super-charge your ability to manifest your desires, has incredible health benefits, and believe it or not – it can actually be a fun experience!
The idea that you have to be able to completely clear your mind of thoughts to successfully meditate is probably one of the most common misconceptions. This is only one form of meditation and honestly, it’s quite challenging! For someone who has never meditated before, it would be like giving a kindergarten student a complicated math equation to solve.
As with anything, it takes some time to learn the technique and train your brain to comply with your spirit. The first thing you must understand is, you are not your brain or your thoughts. You are not your body, or your emotions. These are all things you experience. You experience the thoughts in your mind, you experience the sensations of the body and of emotions, but these things are not you.
So, what or who is doing the observing? The answer is Spirit. Your spirit. This understanding is vital. Once you can separate your Spirit, your Soul, from the mechanics of the body, you can begin to tame the voracious beast that is your mind.
Going back to stillness meditations for moment, these are certainly powerful and wonderful to experience, but our brains are used to running the show! Instead of trying to turn off your thoughts, I encourage you to begin by giving the mind something to do instead.
Take some time to think about what you want to achieve through your practice. At its most basic meditation can be used as a tool to help align your mind, body and spirit with your overall goals. These goals can be anything! Reducing stress or anxiety, improving overall vitality, enhancing mental function, boosting your mood, improving your sleep patterns, and so on. Creative visualization is a remarkably powerful tool for manifesting. If you have never tried it before, start with just one simple intention. As you grow more adept, you can expand your goals and wishes.
To The Beat Of My Own Drum
I am in the process of moving home. While going through years of stored stuff in the attic of my old home, I found a Christmas gift that my parents gave me around the age of four. It was a little drum, intact, with sticks to play to the beat of my young heart. I am sure there were many times my parents thoroughly regretted buying a four-year-old a drum to bang on!
To my surprise, throughout the house, I also found a total of eleven more drums. All different sizes and kinds. And it is safe to say I can still make a joyful noise with each one (although my family might consider this debatable).
In the summer we spend a lot of time at Camp Etna, one of the spiritualist camps here in Maine. We have two small cottages here – one that we live in, and another I use as my office. Some of the drums I found are kept in the office cottage, for my clients to enjoy.
Why the obsession with drums, you may ask? Well, drumming has always been a form of great stress relief for me. You can release pent up emotions, by beating the drum as hard or soft as you wish. It feels good to express yourself through the primal beat. Moving to the sound of the beat seems to make doing most tasks easier. Drumming is just plain old-fashioned fun, and people around the world have been moving to the sound of drums since the beginning of time.
Drums are also a very useful spiritual tool. In energy work, for example, I use drums to get in touch with the heartbeat. We also host a drumming circle here, at least once a week. Young and old come out to participate, and everyone in the area is invited. It is a spiritual activity that helps to unite the community. One person sets the intention, and the beat for the circle, and then all join in. It is wonderful to see the smiles and joy the drumbeat brings to faces.
Anyone can learn to play the drum. With people being at home much more these days, if you have always had the desire to learn to play and instrument, it is a good time to try the drums. With all the information technology we have these days, there are many courses and tutorials available online for one to learn drumming techniques in the comfort of your home.
Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
A loyal client recently asked me to send her one of the guided meditations in my collection. I have collected many over the years, and she experienced several of them in a meditation class I used to offer. She said she was planning to start a small meditation group of her own, and would be happy with whichever meditation I chose to share with her.
I sincerely wished to help her, and therefore wanted to choose carefully. So, on my walk this morning, along a path lined with olive trees, I asked my guides for a sign or symbol of what script would best help her get going with her guided meditation venture.
Well, Spirit never ceases to surprise me. The ‘sign’ was almost instant, and prominent. Out of nowhere, I suddenly smelled the exquisite scent of the ‘Yesterday Today and Tomorrow’ plant (Brunfelsia). I immediately knew exactly which meditation to send my client.
Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow Meditation
Sit in a comfortable chair and close your eyes. With your eyelids closed, glance upwards for a few moments, directing your eyes towards the heavens. This is helpful in relaxing your eyes and also symbolic in connecting with Spirit.
Now, take several deep breaths and, as you do so, relax your head in a downward position. Allow your eyeballs to relax downwards too, whilst still keeping your eyelids gently closed.
Improving Your Emotional Responses To Change
Change is inevitable, yet most people don’t know how to manage, or accept it. Living to the fullest is about constantly adapting to different stimuli and changing situations, as we go about our daily lives.
The change I am referring to is not about major socio-economic changes or political events in the world. I’m talking about personal growth, life transitions, and emotional and psychological challenges.
Knowing that personal changes and challenges are inevitable in our lives, how does one handle it in a more positive manner? First and foremost, you have to have the desire and will to succeed in making a change for the better. It must come from within, or it will feel as if it is being forced upon you.
Let’s look, for example, into emotional changes as a result of circumstances or events we may be able to control, or not. Emotional expression is innate in all of us. We can however choose how, and when, to express our emotions, and to what degree. For some of us this is easier said than to done, but never impossible. We can choose to be happy, sad, or even mad. How we choose to react in any given situation is the one thing in life we always can control.
To change a negative emotional response, we have to first understand what brings on that emotion and how the trigger affects us in a given situation. We must acknowledge the stimulus, as well as the emotion I tends to trigger. Finally we must choose how to address it, so it no longer is a negative response.
How To Get Your Day Off To A Great Start!
Always begin your day as you intend to live your life. This is one of the basic spiritual wisdoms my mother taught me when I was a small child. Fifty years later, I realize how right she actually was! Getting your day off to a great start is important because it puts you into a positive frame of mind, and as a result activates the Law of Attraction, empowering you to manifest more positivity in your life.
Starting the day on a positive note primes you for being in problem-solving mode. It is never easy to solve problems when you are feeling negative. By putting yourself in a positive mindset, you will feel much more confident in tackling life’s challenges. And the more we address our issues, the more confident and empowered we become.
We become more comfortable to live with, and work with, if we start our days off with a higher vibration. It goes without saying, that most people prefer, both personally or professionally, to be around positive individuals. Most folks are drawn to positivity, rather than negativity.
Therefore, by putting yourself in a positive headspace every morning, your personal and professional relationships will not only get off to a good start, but will also increasingly stay in a good place, day after day. How good is that!
The above all said, just how do we go about starting our day in the best possible way? Personally, I find the following strategies to be very effective:
Finding The Calm Within
Be afraid. Yes, be afraid. Be so very afraid! We are currently being bombarded with this message, not only daily, but hourly. People are very worried, anxious and fearful for a variety of valid reasons. To be honest, I believe our greatest source of anxiety is that we no longer seem to have much control over our lives.
In the modern world we have become so conditioned to mindless purchasing, consuming, and discarding, that we hardly give much thought anymore to our daily habits and lifestyle choices, whether useful or not. We also expect and demand certain privileges and freedoms, and it is shocking to have our normal, everyday routines disrupted, especially when we have no idea when things will return to normal.
I feel this is actually the most frightening aspect of the current circumstances for most people. We feel that we have lost control over our lives. And every morning, we tune back into our daily update of doom, gloom and negative dialogue, which of course only resets our fright buttons!
A better way to start your day would be to take a few minutes to reconnect to the safe and secure part of yourself, namely the inner spirit. Here, all is well, all is serene, and all is safe. Become mindful of your breathing and calm your mind. Then do a visualization that creates a sense of joy, peace and serenity.