curl up*
thea coughlin, canon digital rebel xti
I've been dealing with some gremlins today that are holding me back from the joy I'd like to reach. Those naughty little self doubt voices need to be hushed.
I've been away for a few days and came home to my husband being excited about the book Quiet Your Mind.
There was a bit in particular that he shared with me last night that I found really helpful with hushing those negative thoughts today: Take some deep breaths and direct your thoughts to your breathing. Not only focus on your breathing but also your chest moving up and down during each deep breath.
When I allow my mind to think about those two things, rather than just my breathing, I really can quiet my mind. My brain only allows those two thoughts to penetrate my being in that moment. It even works for my husband, who is the King of multi-tasking and thinking of a thousand things at once.
I always struggle with meditating because my mind wanders in various directions. Focusing on just my breath during yoga or meditation still leads to so many other images, feelings, people and events. Perhaps that is why visualizing goals that I want to happen come easier to me. I am glad to know that for people like me who think too much, there are tools to find that place when you're not really thinking but just being.
I am sure there are many other ways to get to this place and if you are inspired to share your experience of how you quiet your mind, I would love to hear.
Tonight I am going to curl up and be grateful that those gremlins left me alone. I am going to curl up and continue to quiet my mind when needed.
Have a wonderful weekend curling up to your own positive, loving, gentle thoughts.
posted by boho girl at 16.5.08
12 Comments:
It might be helpful to know that no one thinks any more or less than anyone else. Everyone thinks. It is the natural function of the brain. Meditation is the practice of practicing the practice of practicing the practice (get my drift?) of not following a thought. It then disappears by itself. This is why the ancients devised the practice of counting the breath. It gives the mind something to do; it gives you a thought that you can think without thinking.
But no one finds it easy. Everyone finds it nearly impossible. And so they stop. But if you keep going, like anything, it becomes your nature. Just don't give up on yourself, or your breath, or your life.
Offered with love and encouragement. And now I'll be quiet.
thanks, Karen.
I love when you share your wisdom here. you're the only Zen master that i know somewhat personally, so i truly listen and marinate in it all.
you're right...we're all thinkers and i suppose i assumed that the people in my life that seem to be able to meditate smoother than me just didn't crowd their mind with unnecessary thoughts but in reality...they just practice more.
that seems closer within reach. thank you.
namaste.
4 breaths of what you said:
OMG!
it's been a hideous day (found out my fav. aunt has a rare form of lukemia, plus iminent foreclosure on my mom's house)and it STILL worked.
:0]
it's the chest moving up & down that gets ya.
thank you boho....thank you
soo much
i suck, just suck at breathing and meditation and the like. (i would so be fired if i were a monk.) the true things that still my mind and my chatter is being surrounded by nature, chilling to some good music, or taking a ride on the bike.
i think the key is finding the recipe that works for each of us, and going with that....even if it isnt the traditional and "correct" way....
rock on sister.
love you
xoxox
jen gray
Yesterday my mind was sort of quiet for the first time in...?
I stood on the beach, the sea was rough (it might be May, but it feels like october here weather wise) the sky was grey and i seemed to be the only one on the beach.
I was surrounded by the sound of the howling wind and waves. The silence in between the waves is what i focused on and it made me breathe deeper, feel at ease and i think for a split second all my thoughts were gone...
I love what Karen wrote about meditating, I'm gonna keep that in mind :)
Have a great weekend!!
xo
Hi,
I guess I just found a new way to calm down my toughts, I lay down and feel what's going on in my body. Are there some points who needs attention? Is something hurting? I just lay still, listen and feel… If there is something going on, I try to let it be…
Yesterday night I was frightened about something and I did'nt want to feel that fear so I turned away. But then I remembered that it's OK to feel that. I lay down and felt the fear in my heart and throat, and I let it be… Finally I felt asleep.
Thanks for sharing your tool.
xx
Hi D,
I concentrate to breathe in the space around my heart...:-) nearly the same as yours...and yes, "practice makes perfect"...
I think I'm too impatient with myself and whenever my thoughts start swifting, I stand up and do something else...but those times that I stayed...and breathed....and concentrated was magical!
Brilliant book to read is "Unconditional Love by
Ed and Deb Shapiro".
Enjoy your weekend!
PS: like Jen...one of the things that really work for me is spinning....I'm so tired after a session that I cannot even think :-) xx
Thanks for the title of a new book for me to peruse. Your post today started me thinking about what draws me to your writing. I think, in part, it helps to quiet my mind. Your are in a different point in your life than I am in my mine and reading your posts helps me to look for and appreciate the beauty in my own life. Thank you. :)
i am going to watch this post
closely as i recently posted
something about wanting to
do the same, to find my center,
to find my breath...
isn't that funny,
i have been doing the neck exercises for headaches that i found in your comments recently
and now you have asked another
question that feels very relevant to me right at this particular time...heehee...parralels across the planet... :)
i really love what karen wrote here.
and that picture of thea.... swoon.
could she be any more gorgeous?!
xoxo
Like others, I've had difficulty quieting my mind and living in the present moment, the eternal now. Lately it's started happening by happy accident. I've reconnected with a man with whom I've been around the block twice before, and always expectations about the future screwed us up. This time, because I have changed, the relationship is qualitatively different. When we are making love, I am fully, totally present to/with him for the first time in my life, completely un-self-conscious. I don't think, I just "be". It is a blessed thing, for which I am profoundly grateful.
My go to book of help has been The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I pick it up every day lately. We've been in a storm of media attention and all that craziness that comes with it and I'm not sure how well I would hang on to that all powerful act of being present if it weren't for his words.
I've found it to be life changing and even my addicted to thinking sweet hubby has come to love this book and I hear him telling people about it all the time.
I wish you peace!
I often come here when I have lost mine ;-)
Namaste
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