Emotional Balance

Managing emotions - Identifying feelings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am often quite unbalanced, as a person goes emotionally. Which is how I have come to find meditation.
Its often quite hard to sit through uncomfortable emotions, but when life starts to get crazy, there is no other kind of rest like sitting within ones self. Finding that balance has been a lifelong journey, so far. First I tried drugs, that didn't work. Then I moved on to other worldly things such as eating, buying things, and other people. None of these things worked as they stirred up more emotions which I had no idea how to deal with.

It's still quite odd that the best way to deal with a feeling is to relax into it. This is by far the most counter-intuitive thing that I have ever experienced,  but because everything is impermanent it isn't long until whatever I am encountering seems to fall away. It may be hard at first, especially when inner thoughts and feelings insist that something must happen, but by focusing on an object these will easily fall away.
The beauty of mindfulness practice is that it is a way of spirituality that asks you to find out for yourself. There are no "musts" or "should"s. Whatever works is what works. This principle is what gives mindfulness its worth.
Emotions are a tricky thing, and we all have them. Another tricky aspect is that there is no instruction book to them. Often being mindful within difficult emotions can be taxing, painful, and scary. As you watch the mind things begin to slow down. Thoughts begin to separate from their meanings and peace comes.

Through diligent practice of watching the breath the senses begin to open and emotions begin to balance. Peace can be found within much more easily than it can outside the self. The path of meditation is not always easy though. Meditation can bring up emotions from the past, but only through accepting these echos can we move on from experiences that formed them initially.

Developing a Meditation Practice

Meditation by the Sea (oil on canvas) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is very hard for the average Joe to get his feet wet with meditation. Unless there is a temple or meditation center, it is hard to get an idea of what meditation should look like without a guide. I am writing this to tell you, dear readers, that it is really one of the most simple things that can be done.
Meditation can come in many shapes or sizes, such as a variety of religious leanings. I will avoid these to the best of my ability. There is a simpler way to meditate without getting wrapped up in the religious side of it.
The key to developing a mindfulness practice is consistency. Just like with any hobby that I picked up, I had to make time to meditate. It was easier for me to begin by setting aside a few minutes before I go to bed so that I could sit with my breath. For some, it may be easier to set aside a few minutes of time in the morning, but there is no need for all the bells and whistles when beginning meditation.
All that is needed is the breath and attention. There is nothing more to it. Simply paying attention to the breath can be very therapeutic. Not only is it the process itself of paying attention to the breath, but also just the act of making time for yourself.
No need to dress up meditation. It can be as simple as taking a few minutes over a cup of coffee to simply pay attention. There is much to get lost in during meditation, the aromas of the coffee, the feel of the seat, the medley of tastes, etc.
Though it may feel silly, there is really a point to it. Over time of developing this practice much can be gained such as a reduction in anxiety, depression, and fear.

It may be simple, but it is by no means easy.

Be still

I find that my days go so quickly, but there is so much beauty in this world that I often overlook. I have been trying to find time, every day, to slow down and follow my breath.
Finding stillness gives me solace when the world around is seeming trouble. For some reason, it is very easy to find pain in my stillness. When I sit, I find that there is something more than I with me, but it has taken weeks of consistent practice to find comfortable in myself.

Mindful Blogging

"Gathering the Light" from the Taoist book The Secret of the Golden Flower, translated by C. G. Jung and Richard Wilhelm - I have no idea how this relates. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Finding time to meditate is just as hard as finding time to blog.
I feel like I have to have a large chunk of free time with which to meditate in.
The way that mindful meditation is set up actually allows meditation to be brought into every day life. It's not something to be set aside from everyday life, mindfulness is brought in to the hustle and bustle of life.

It is still hard for me to practice consistently, but it is as simple as paying attention to what you are doing. The usual practice of meditation, in the eastern sense, is to pay attention to the breath. This is pretty simple, in essence, but extending this to other aspects of life is the difficult part. Simply paying attention to whatever we are doing at a particular time is by far not easy. In the hustle and bustle world we live in, being able to do one thing at a time and pay attention to it is even more difficult.

I have decided, as I have time to write this post, that I will develop a new type of blogging- Mindful blogging.
As the spearhead of this practice, the instructions are simple.. just pay attention to the keystrokes, the pressure of the sofa on the back, the sounds going on around, and simply be in the moment.
Try it out! Its really not that hard, and after you've been going for a while it becomes increasingly easy to be distracted by thoughts and other outside stimulus.

That's all for now- if you have any feedback it would be greatly appreciated. Just remember to do what you are doing and pay attention....

Beginning Mindfulness Meditation

(Photo credit: holisticgeek)

When beginning my path of mindfulness, I was lost as to where to start. It was always something that I could read about in books and talk about with friends. I was missing one of the most important aspects of practicing meditation and mindfulness- Practice.

When I started looking into meditation- The first thing I wanted to do was to be a monk, guru, or other type of spiritual teacher...Instantly. At that point I knew very little as to what it meant to be mindful, even though I could define the term in eight different ways. Little did I know that the path of mindfulness is one of awareness and spirituality in one.

The purpose of this blog is to crystallize what it means to live mindfully and to help people find mindfulness in their lives.

A great resource is found at the following link, they provide free online tutorials on how to begin a meditation practice. This website is created and maintained by the Meditation Society of Australia
There are also some useful meditation podcasts at this link.

These articles attempt to point the reader in the right direction.

• How to Meditate Daily (zenhabits.net)
• Learn to Meditate (meditationoasis.com)
• Meditating yourself to transformation (positiveprovocations.com)