Do you meditate? Or do you struggle to find time/settle/or even engage with the idea?
In conversation with a dear friend the other day I recognised a familiar pattern: her neurodiversity makes it difficult for her to start and maintain practices, but because she knows it would be beneficial, she then gets stuck in loops of ‘failing’ to start/continue/focus and then feelings of self blame.
Sound familiar?
How about rather than ‘failing’ to start/maintain a formal meditation practice, bringing meditative awareness to little moments in your day. Start with something simple; like getting dressed.
* As you stand in front of your clothes to choose, tune in to how your body feels right now? What do you need: warmth, coolness, comfort, ease, practicality, joy…? This is tuning in to your body in the present moment.
* As you get dressed, notice how it is to move into your clothes. How the fabrics feel against your skin. More opportunities for embodied awareness and connection.
* You might even extend this to feelings of Metta (lovingkindness) and gratitude to the folk who made your clothes. Even deeper, this may inspire more awareness and compassion, could you practice ahimsa, non-harm, in the way you buy clothes; not supporting companies that abuse people or planet, buying less/more ethically? There’s a little moment of enlightenment for you right there.
The possibilities to connect to the present moment, yourself and others are right there in that daily activity. Meditation tick ??
If you’d like a little inspiration to get you into formal or informal meditation practices, Charlotte, Leah and myself have recorded 30 15-minute daily meditations for you over at charlottewattshealth which are FREE throughout August uaing code WH100 at checkout. That’s one a day, exploring what mindfulness might look like for you, how to connect to your breath, developing curiosity, beginner’s mind, not over identifying with our thoughts, being patient, experiencing without interpretation and fostering trust.
I would love to hear the ways you find to be more meditative in the everyday? Perfect for the school holidays!
Access 30 days of FREE daily meditations here and use CODE WH100 at checkout.