Mindfulness Meditation
Update on my mindfulness meditation practice. I have been getting better at trying to clear my mind of thoughts and just listen to sounds around me as I attempt to listen to my breathing. The practice of mindfulness has helped in other aspects of my life. I find myself thinking before I react. Paying attention to the feeling I am having or thoughts I am thinking and either not reacting or choosing my words carefully for the reaction. For example, I recently found out that my ex-wife plans to wait until the last day to get the rest of her belonging out of my shed and off my deck. Instead of reacting and texting or calling and flipping out, I decided to not let it bother me. I faced the feeling head-on and decided that getting angry who texting would just cause my aggravation. This wouldn’t help and probably make things worse. Another example was when a mutual friend advised that over the weekend, she would be going to see my ex-wife’s new house. Instead of saying look at the furniture in the house and realize it all came from this house. Or some other smart remark that went through my head. I decided to just let it go and didn’t even comment at all. So, I believe this mediation is bringing awareness of thoughts and feelings and not reacting but allowing them to happen and then letting them go.
What I am trying to work on now is to live in the moment more. I find myself thinking about tasks or things that are coming up on my list instead of thinking about what is going on right now. I also find myself reviewing those tasks repeatedly as if I need to remind myself and not forget. I am going to try to maybe write them on a calendar or write them down to see if this will stop me from repeating it over and over. I’m not sure if it’s better that I tend to think about things in the future and I have downplayed things of the past or if I should be sharing equal time or not dwelling on either. I know you must plan for the future, and you should look at the past for your mistakes and learn from them. But how much is dwelling and how much is too much dreaming/planning? I guess the answer might be when you can’t even be in the moment that you are in because you are thinking too much about the past or too much about the future.
Here is to hoping that as I continue to use this meditation app, I can use the mindfulness part in the everyday.
Comments