I have now been meditating for ~30 days in a row.

Here are 10 things i've observed so far.

1. The habit is more important than the ritual. I don't have a fancy setup, i don't sit down on the floor, i don't do mantras, i don't count my breathes or how long i breathe for. I sit on a chair, put a calm playlist on, let my brain run free. It hurts, but it works.
2. People tell me their main objection to giving it a go is they're afraid of what might surface. But this is entirely the point of meditating, to see whatever repressed feelings are unresolved. On that note...
3. Meditation for me is the art of being a little bit less afraid. And of feeling a little bit less hurt. And of normalising pain. And of understanding where our ego is coming from. We're so curious about the world, we forget to be curious about ourselves.
4. I started with 10 minutes, then 15, 20, now at 25 (soon i might move to 30). I couldn't imagine starting with 30 minutes, but now i barely see the time flying and couldn't go back to 10. It's the runner's high for people who don't like running (✋).
5. A colleague's suicide helped me double down on why i wanted to meditate and process how i was feeling about it, and say goodbye. As a result, since hearing the news i've cried every single time i meditate. This sounds awful, but it's the best thing i could have hoped for.
6. Over time, my brain started shifting from daily anxieties to very old ones. I think school, past emotional traumas, my relationship with father figures. I have become convinced that most of our current emotional pain is a reminder of very old pain. This is hugely liberating.
7. The short term hurt of meditating (and crying) as soon as i get out of bed is completely worth the release i have before the day even starts. It gives me clarity, perspective and a renewed sense of freedom. My days run better. This is worth any short term 'hit'.
8. It's a cliché to say most of our problems stem from our childhood, but i've become convinced it's not a question of "do they", but "how do they". There are things i didn't think were a big deal that now make me cry. This is useful. We repress more emotions than we think.
9. If you can sit down for 5 minutes and listen to a song you like, uninterrupted, without doing anything else at the same time, i count that as meditation. You don't need a Headspace subscription if you have a Spotify subscription. Honestly. (Though Headspace is ace too.)
10. If you're stressed that you're "doing meditation wrong", this misses the point. The point is that whatever you do, and whatever happens, is good enough for that moment in time. We need to remind ourselves of this more often. "Being more" is easier than "being enough".
PS: i have no intention of saying everyone should meditate. But i will say this: as someone who's struggled with anxiety and depression most of my life, it matters to know where some of those feelings are actually coming from. (And it's rarely the reasons we immediately think.)
PPS: yes, in classic strategist form, i am working on ways to reframe my own emotional problems. But then again this is what good therapy does too. A taboo for another time.

More from Life

TW: suicidal ideation.

At the darkest days of the abuse I was being subjected to I decided to attend a conference for women in Los Angeles. I convinced my mother in law to pay for it because I couldn’t afford it. @ChristineCaine was preaching. I was desperate...
1/


I wanted to die, I didn’t see a way out and I had tried everything. I imagined many ways to die daily. The most recurring one was throwing my car down a bridge I had to drive over every day. I never did it because my kids were in the car and I was afraid one of them would...

2/

survive or I’d kill someone on the way down.

Christine spoke about honoring your pastors even when they weren’t great, she spoke of us expecting too much of pastors and how wrong that was. She said God would use our testimony if we submitted to our pastors.

3/

She said “honor your pastors, God will honor you.” She said more about having disagreed with her pastors but she submitted and God honored her and now she’s blessed. How if they are faithfully serving God, we need to support them and not forfeit what God has for us.

4/

I felt my heart drop into my stomach. I got up and went to the bathroom because I couldn’t breath and I felt like I was going to faint if I didn’t scream. I now know I was having a panic attack. I sat on the toilet w/my head between my legs, breathed and wept..
5/

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#ज्योतिष_विज्ञान #मंत्र_विज्ञान

ज्योतिषाचार्य अक्सर ग्रहों के दुष्प्रभाव के समाधान के लिए मंत्र जप, अनुष्ठान इत्यादि बताते हैं।

व्यक्ति के जन्म के समय ग्रहों की स्थिति ही उसकी कुंडली बन जाती है जैसे कि फ़ोटो खींच लिया हो और एडिट करना सम्भव नही है। इसे ही "लग्न" कुंडली कहते हैं।


लग्न के समय ग्रहों की इस स्थिति से ही जीवन भर आपको किस ग्रह की ऊर्जा कैसे प्रभावित करेगी का निर्धारिण होता है। साथ साथ दशाएँ, गोचर इत्यादि चलते हैं पर लग्न कुंडली का रोल सबसे महत्वपूर्ण है।


पृथ्वी से अरबों खरबों दूर ये ग्रह अपनी ऊर्जा से पृथ्वी/व्यक्ति को प्रभावित करते हैं जैसे हमारे सबसे निकट ग्रह चंद्रमा जोकि जल का कारक है पृथ्वी और शरीर के जलतत्व पर पूर्ण प्रभाव रखता है।
पूर्णिमा में उछाल मारता समुद्र का जल इसकी ऊर्जा के प्रभाव को दिखाता है।


अमावस्या में ऊर्जा का स्तर कम होने पर वही समुद्र शांत होकर पीछे चला जाता है। जिसे ज्वार-भाटा कहते हैं। इसी तरह अन्य ग्रहों की ऊर्जा के प्रभाव होते हैं जिन्हें यहां समझाना संभव नहीं।
चंद्रमा की ये ऊर्जा शरीर को (अगर खराब है) water retention, बैचेनी, नींद न आना आदि लक्षण दिखाती है


मंत्र क्या हैं-
मंत्र इन ऊर्जाओं के सटीक प्रयोग करने के पासवर्ड हैं। जिनके जप से संबंधित ग्रह की ऊर्जा को जातक की ऊर्जा से कनेक्ट करके उन ग्रहों के दुष्प्रभाव को कम किया और शुभ प्रभाव को बढ़ाया जाता है।