3 powerful lessons I've learned through meditation
A year and a half ago, I began an on-line meditation course after interviewing my friend, and founder of Ziva Meditation, Emily Fletcher. Emily recently announced a new course, zivaONLINE, that will rock your world through her "trifecta of tools": mindfulness, meditation and manifesting.
But first, I want to a second to highlight some major shifts that happened for me through my meditation practice.
Forgiveness. One thing I think we can all relate to at some point in our lives is the pride that comes with waiting for an apology. Maybe you are furious at someone for stealing your parking spot, or maybe you feel you were wronged by someone close to you. You might be deserving of an apology, but the added stress you are holding, going through your daily routine waiting for those two little words you so deserve, is not worth it. That is not be your burden to carry. That only damages and stresses YOU out. It won't fix anything. I have always been forgiving when I hear the words, "I'm sorry," but I don't always get them! Meditation has helped me "rewire" how I react in situations. Emily has a great story on this subject which I know will resonate with many of you. She describes a story where she is wearing a beautiful, new white shirt to a fancy dinner and the lady next to her flicks a piece of chocolate cake on her new shirt. She politely tries to get an apology from the lady and the lady denies any wrong-doing. She's upset, and huffs and puffs her way home and throws the shirt in the washing machine for 20 minutes, and it comes out clean. "It does me zero good to analyze the chemical composition of the dirty water that trails out of that washing machine. All that dirty water tells me is that I had a dirty shirt and now I have a clean shirt. That dirty water is not going to tell me whether or not that woman intentionally flicked chocolate cake on my shirt. It's not going to give me an apology." In short, analyzing the incident is not going to do you any good. The washer took care of it. So I am learning to throw things into my "meditation washer" and move on to things that bring me joy.
Better Sleep. As a mom, I always blamed my inability to fall/stay asleep on the axiom that "mom's just worry". My mind was going a mile a minute most nights before bedtime, but, by chipping away at the stress I have accumulated throughout my life, my sleep habits have changed enormously! Simple as that.
Reduced Anxiety. Meditation has rid me of so much stress and anxiety, but when I received my breast cancer diagnosis this past November, I can't lie, my stress levels skyrocketed. From the moment I woke up until the moment my head hit the pillow, my adrenaline was pumping and my mind was imagining every catastrophic possibility. I kept up my daily meditation practice, though, and I truly believe this was a life preserver that kept me from drowning during this very traumatic time. I slept like a baby through the night during this entire time period. When I had settled on a plan after a week or two, this is where the good stuff I learned from meditation really kicked in. When I focused on the enormity of the universe, and that I was just a tiny part of it, this event, which is hugely important in my and my family's life, seemed less daunting. The universe has my back. Even now when I go to the darkest, worst case scenario, there is always a voice that tells me it is all going to be okay; this too shall pass. By meditating twice a day, plus talking to God through prayer and stillness, the anxiety before and during surgery was almost non-existent. I felt eerily calm at times, I kid you not. It was all going to be okay, and I was strong and calm enough to take it.
Learning this skill through a Ziva practice is priceless to me. I encourage you to check out Ziva's new program. Every single person I know who has used one of Ziva's programs, be it live in the classroom, or on-line in the convenience of your own home, is living a more productive, fulfilling and blissful life because of it. Check it out and leave me a comment to let me know what you think!
