Tag: Meditation

Sensory Deprivation & Floating

(picture courtsey of Life Float via Facebook)

I have been wanting to do a sensory deprivation float for at least a few years and finally found the right place and the right time to do it – and I’m so glad I did!

First of all, I love trying new experiences. There’s something about getting out of your usual routine that gets the brain and body shifting in different gears that really get me excited.

Back to floating… after doing a bit of research I decided to try Life Float in Seattle. The ease of booking online, customer service, and cleanliness of the facilities had me sold. Not to mention the genuine and authentic nature of the business, which was immediately validated upon arrival.

But wait, what’s floating?

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Letting Go of Your Future Plans

I remember a time not too long ago, when at the close of 2014, I had immensely ambitious goals of what I would like to conquer in the next year. At the time it was all about health and fitness. How I could really take my strength, speed, and admittedly vanity to the next level.

Then BAM. Not a few days into January a mundane event caused a sudden panic attack and my world went spiraling.

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Friday Focus – 2/10/17

I was chatting with one of my good friends the other day and she had mentioned just how “crazy” life was these days. I nodded and understood.

We both knew in that moment what it takes. And what it takes is a high level of self discipline to say no so you can cultivate the peace and pace you need to live a centered life.

Lately, there are three ways in which I try to cultivate peace and pace:

  • Let go of the small stuff: Running errands has got to be the #1 thing that adds to anxiety. On top of work, family, relationships, health, you name it… there’s always a laundry list of errands that need tending to. Yes, you need groceries to prepare food for the week but do you really need to send that extra email? Or pick up dry cleaning tonight??? I’ve found for myself that if I can let go of the small stuff, if I can just be OK with leaving non-critical items for later, it creates peace and a more healthy pace in my life.
  • Meditation & prayer both morning and evening: I saw a show last week about a person who runs a food bank and shelter all run purely on donations. He was in a dire situation with the lease ending and no facility to be found. As he made it home he headed toward the annex and it was then the audience realized he was also a priest. As he sat in one of the pews of the small church inside the annex he prayed earnestly to God. To be honest while it was certainly prayer I saw it more as a dialogue. A communication system between himself and God. There was something about his earnest means of communication that touched upon aspects of what I previously touched upon such as letting go, compassion, and metta. What a beautiful way to share, let go, and trust you are taken care of. What’s more, what a beautiful way to start and end the day.
  • Seek out the good despite the crazy: I’ve written about the power we have to choose our thoughts. And yes, while life can get a bit out of hand I have found it to be much more pleasant when we choose to focus our energy on the one thing we our grateful for vs. the one thing that could make our lives easier. What a shift in energy that is! This is also the time I whip out my inspiration journal and flip through some of the previous pages for inspiration and go into a page full of gratitude. Sometimes it’s a small win but nonetheless a win.

All that said, I am grateful for this beautiful Friday and am looking forward to a dinner party with some of my dearest friends. It’s my turn to bring dessert so I decided to make a (very tart) lemon pound cake. Gluten free of course 😉

Here’s to the weekend.

Namaste.

Oakland Blue Bottle

You Are Your Patterns

We are nothing but patterns

Kind of enlightening and empowering at the same time isn’t it?

When I first heard this yesterday it struck a chord within me. You see, I’ve been delving into the work and research behind the sub/conscious mind and everything is about patterns. If you remember this post, about 95%+ of our thoughts are mere repeats of what we were thinking the day before, and likely the days before that!

Simply acknowledging the fact that our brains are on constant repeat is power enough to know we can change the track.

So how do you change the track?

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It Just Is.

(deep breath in, deep breath out)

The morning is turning bright, there’s a whirring with each passing car, and for a brief few seconds there is silence in the mind.

The eyes are now open and slowly scans the room. Each object is coming alive. It is seen as it’s own entity. Most importantly, it just is.

Going deeper into the meditation each object is now seen as it were from a 3rd point of view. From a stranger’s point of view seeing this room for the first time. These objects no longer hold the same, close memories to the heart, but just memories as they were. It just is.

The room continues to be scanned and every picture, card, book, candle, lotion, clock, is seen as it just is. There are aspects of the human personality in each one. A spectrum of emotions come up as the mind observes the time of acquisition for each object. And again, it just is.

There is peace. There is peace in knowing it just is. There is peace in knowing none of these or all of these don’t make the identity, state of being, or who I “think” I am.

It just is.

Friday Focus – 1/27/16

How do we want to remember our lives?

I was struck by a passage in one of the books I am reading, “The Mindful Path through Worry and Rumination: Letting Go of Anxious and Depressive Thoughts“, by Sameet M. Kumar Ph.D.

This made me think, through what lens have I been remembering my past? Through what lens am I living my life NOW? And finally, through what lens do I want to live my life in the future? At the end of the day, how do I want to remember all this?

I come back, again and again, to reminding myself of the infinite power we have within ourselves to choose our thoughts.

If your current state of being is one of anxiety, worry, fear or chronic stress, ask yourself the question – what am I predominately thinking about? Very often what we think about induces your state.

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Compassion As An Aspect Of Surrender

Many times I have spoken about surrendering all attachment in difficult times. Most recently I mentioned how surrendering allowed me to make healing in leaps and bounds toward complete recovery from adrenal fatigue.

Perhaps it’s the peace that comes with complete surrender that allows for the body and mind to heal. When we give up hope (in a sense) of any outcome or attachment to any ideal (or not) situation, we allow ourselves an opening, a space in which we can feel the immense presence of the moment.

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Are You Aware Of Confirmation Bias?

Did you know that in every moment you actually have the power within yourself to choose what you want to think about? In previous posts I’ve written a lot about how important it is to, yes, CHOOSE your thoughts.

Did you also know that you and the person next to you, on average, have 50,000 – 70,000 thoughts per day? And furthermore, did you know that 95% (some even say 98%) of those thoughts are the same exact thoughts you had yesterday?!?!?

I don’t know about you but when I first heard this fact it was astounding to me. And when I heard it the second time around it made me stop everything I was doing and truly take it in.

Something changed within me when I decided to pause and truly think about this.

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