How & Why I Meditate (and Why I Resisted at First)

I know every one always hears about the benefits of meditation, and some of you are like “Yay!” and some of you are like “SNORE” —

I used to be like, “Ugh, cliché, snore, no, boring, no thanks, sick of hearing about meditation.”  (And images and quotes like this one would irk me.)

Now I’m like, “Hell yes, why did I wait so long to take meditation seriously, I have to have it, I was so weirdly resistant, it’s easy, it’s a no-brainer, YES, yay!”  (And now, I see the truth and humor in the image/quote — a meditation practice helps you to have a new relationship with time over all, so twenty minutes is nothing!)

So why the change of heart?

Because I learned what meditation really is:

It’s letting go of resistance. Period. And that’s the key to life and getting in the flow.

It’s connecting to myself in a gentle and easy way.

It’s fifteen minutes to just BE.

It’s fifteen minutes to let my mind rest.

It’s fifteen minutes to bask in that part of myself that is naturally content without needing anything.

It’s fifteen minutes to not be wrapped up in anything.

It’s fifteen minutes to merge with the divine.

It’s fifteen minutes to chill.

It’s fifteen minutes to let my thoughts pass by, without judgment.

It’s fifteen minutes to feel my breath coming in and out.

It’s fifteen minutes to let the birds sing, to let the A/C run, to let the quiet that is there behind the noise take over.

I have learned that everything that we want comes from this release of trying so hard, wanting so badly, figuring stuff out. The mode that meditation creates sets the tone for inspiration and relaxation and trust and ALLOWING all this loveliness in.

That’s why I meditate.

Here’s how I meditate:

I wake up, use the bathroom, drink a glass of water, go to either my sofa or back to my bed, sit comfortably, set my phone alarm for 15 minutes, close my eyes, and BREATHE.

Yes, my mind will go rampant some mornings. So what I do is try to let those pass through without judgment…….

I just try to get “under” them so to speak. I bring my mind back to my breath, or the air conditioner, or the sound of room tone. It’s a gentle process of using the sound and feeling of the breath to focus my mind into a place of release…and not let the thoughts be so loud.

I do this every day. If for some reason, I can’t do it immediately upon waking, I will do it within the first hour of my day, some how some way.

It’s rare these days to miss a session at all, but, when I first started doing this seriously, I would even pull the car over on the way to a client’s house and meditate for five minutes, just to get it in. I would also meditate in the carpool line and still do if I feel like I “need” it.

Sometimes my mind is thinking for 14.5 minutes of the 15 minutes. Sometimes, I am thinking thinking thinking and basically the 15 minutes are up, and I’m like, Huh, not sure if I really meditated there. But I don’t worry about that. I showed up and did what I could. The BEST days are the ones where I am really focused, and I feel myself sort of lift out of my body or tap into something that feels almost like “nectar”…and it feels like a merging with some lovely essence that is just – Divine.

A few moments of that sort of connection – whoa – it’s powerful, and worth sitting down and “looking for” every day.

So there you have it. The times I’m really loving meditation is where my life seems to have this easy flow to it, and fun things appear out of seemingly nowhere, and happiness is just more accessible.

So—try it.

If you want more on this, I love Light Watkins – YouTube him. And of course, Abraham Hicks has a ton of info on meditation. Just type in YouTube “Abraham Hicks meditation” and click the one that calls to you.