You may not realize this but you already have more confidence then you might think. You are the leader of your own life, even if you are not making the right decisions for yourself, you are still leading your life and making your decisions. To lead your life in the best way possible, you need to be a little more intimately involved with yourself and your journey.
A practice of meditation is a fantastic and strong way to lead your life with vision. I can hear the groans now and the statements “I can’t meditate” or “I don’t know how to mediate” or “I can’t clear my head”.
Firstly, that is why we call this practicing meditation and secondly do you really think you are going to just be able sit down and meditate like a Buddhist Monk sitting on the mountains of the Himalayas. Really?? Let’s just clear the air a bit, that monk has been doing that for years and does not live the multi tasking life that we do. In fact, that monk spends hours a day in meditation most likely.
The next thing you need to understand is that you do not need to put time constraints on yourself like, “I must meditate for one hour”, who said?? As well as that nothing can enter into your mind and it must be silent. Why are you defeating your meditation before it even begins? Your confidence that you can meditate should be non-aggressive therefore, forcing yourself to create that space is defeating the purpose. You will then feel disharmony and uneasiness. Allow yourself to enjoy this moment that is “just for you”. Think of letting it flow.
Let’s start with some simple tips
Allow yourself to be in a comfortable position, and by the way, you don’t have to sit in lotus…how about just being comfortable first and working up to other postures in the future. If you need to lie down, then lie down…If you need to sit in a chair, then sit in a chair. If you want to walk, then walk which is a moving meditation and will be discussed in a future article further.
Start with maybe 5 or 10 minute sessions…working up to the time periods you aspire to, with no particular deadlines…just let yourself be, be gentle and kind with yourself.
If you need something to focus on, try music, something soothing or a guided meditation where you can focus on the sound of someone’s voice. Pick a voice that sounds comforting to you.
You may struggle with your emotions, your thoughts, your sense perceptions and that is ok…think about thanking those feelings and thoughts and just letting them slide away for the period of your meditation, you can always pick up on them afterward. When we try to hard to keep our minds quiet…we defeat the purpose and our mind gets louder. Once we try to analyze and struggle, we pull ourselves out of meditation so when thoughts flow in, just accept them, thank them for stopping by and let them float away like leaves on a stream.
Your confidence in your ability to meditate should be non-aggressive therefore, forcing yourself to create that space is defeating the purpose. You will then feel disharmony and uneasiness. Allow yourself to enjoy this moment that is “just for you”. Think of letting it flow and drift, however it is…it is…just be perfectly ok with the practicing.
Breathing is extremely important. Allowing yourself to get lost in your breath. Focusing on each breath in and out allows you to be very present. Actually zeroing in on your breath and allowing it to become your sacred space, your place of peace and a place to think and just be…whatever that is. Pay attention to the length of each breath in and each breath out, comparing them to the last breath out or in. While you are doing this, you become very present, very much in the “now” which by the way is exactly where you want to be.
Get the word “can’t” out of your vocabulary. Of course you can, you just need to start small and practice. There is no right or wrong way to do this and there is no such think as failure. How about you turn the self-judgement in your head off for a bit, turn that volume way down low. We spend so much time judging ourselves that it is time to reduce that ego and allow your inner voice to shine through.
Accept mistakes or challenges as a healthy part of the journey where you can learn and move on
You may find that you start to connect with your feelings and this can be destabilizing. Take your time and put things in perspective. Feel and hear your intuition, you know, that little voice in our gut that we rarely listen to. That is the voice of truth. When you feel destabilized, just breath…long deep breaths and focus on your gut voice and then listen…isn’t this one of the reasons that your meditating, so you can have some inner reflection??
When you come back from your meditation, take some time for reflect and possibly make some changes to develop and improve your life or that particular situation you may have received some guidance on. Begin to really trust yourself and appreciate your existence. Once you can do that then your life will love fresher and newer with more freedom. Your path to purpose will begin to light up.
