Mindful Meditation

Wow! It is already March and I have another monthly challenge under my belt. In February I committed to meditation for at least 5 minutes a day. I wanted to learn what it really takes to meditate and calm the mind from an ever increasingly noisy world. 

Step one was to get a meditation book at the library, which would prove to be a simple and peaceful guide through my edventure of meditation. The book is called 5 Mindful Minutes in the Evening and that is exactly what it provided me; mindfulness.

Each evening before closing my eyes I would read one exercise in my meditation book and consciously think about the topics listed within the exercise. The topics varied from love to letting go and all yielded a positive result.

If you are having sleeping problems, late night anxiety or just want to find a great sense of peace at the end of a busy day then I highly suggest adopting meditation. You do not have to make it complicated and in fact it can be simpler than getting a book that has different exercises. Your meditation practice could be as simple as following these five easy steps:

1. Silence your mind and consciously listen to your breath for two minutes
   
2. Set a positive intention. For example - May this practice bring me a sense of peace and clarity.
   
3. Let go of your thoughts.
   
4. When you sense your mind wandering then come back to your conscious focused on your breath.
   
5. Tune in to how your mind and body are connected.
   

Practicing this for five minutes a day will bring more peace, clarity and focus to your sleep and induce energy when practiced upon the waking moments of a new day.

I asked myself for quite some time why people meditate and why should I consider adopting this healthy habit? The answer did not really become clear to me until I completed this last challenge. 

Meditation is a practice that brings focused mindfulness to my mind and soul. It empowers me to think and act on clear thoughts that do not cause stress and anxiety. It is a habit that I will continue in my daily life.

Meditation is a tool that helps calm the mind and enables you to focus on what is really important. For example, I may spend five minutes meditation before my next task. During the session I will simply focus on clearing my mind from all the pollution that has been filled into today. I will set the intention to find what is most important now and then set out to conquer that task with true mindfulness.

This underused tool is available to us all and beholds more power than I could have ever imagined. 

Give it a try! Spend a few minutes each day looking like Buddha on your living room floor, listen to some music that brings peace and clarity to you.

This month I am committing to writing 500 words per day. This challenge will be hard, but I know that it will be worth my investment. Why am I doing this challenge? Simple reason really! 

I want to become a better writer, speaker and story teller. Writing will surely allow me to do that.



Summit as friends!
Scott Rowley