A moment in time - Day 19

Sit here with me for a moment or two and let's just be.  What do you hear?  What do you see when you close your eyes?  What smell is in the air where you are?  Are there a million things running through your head right now causing you to miss out on those little things? 

In the past when I thought about meditation, my mind typically ran to things like, "what a waste of time", "I have too much to do to just sit here and do nothing", "how can someone sit and not think about anything?"  Now that I have learned how, I think more along the lines of how much time I wasted not knowing how to properly meditate.  How many moments in time I missed out on and how much clearer I see now than I did before?  It is amazing how I feel and think clearer now that I have learned how to use this simple, yet powerful tool that we all have yet many simply ignore.

For me, sitting in a room with my legs crossed, hands on knees, fingers touching...that's just not my style.  I do not find it comfortable and I cannot meditate at all because all I focus on is how miserable I am trying to do this.  Failing before I even get started.  I also have not learned to meditate for long periods without the help of a hypnosis or meditation audio playing to help me focus.  I hope to someday be able to but as with almost everything, it takes practice. 

What I have found is that when I am feeling stressed or out of control, which, anyone knowing me knows is definitely not something I like very much, I will close my eyes and think one simple thought.  Just breathe...everything else is optional.  I read that somewhere a very long time ago and it has helped me through so many moments when I wasn't sure I would make it.  Moments when I thought, this is it, all I can handle.  Those points where I thought I had hit my final straw.  When I just want to give up.  Just Breathe!

Such a powerful reminder.  Really, what else is required in life.  Without breath, there is nothing else and luckily our bodies just do it without us having to think about doing it.  If you just sit and thinking about each breath, taking a breath in through your nose, deep, filling your lungs to capacity and hold for 2 seconds, then let it out through your mouth, pushing all the air out until you feel there is none left, then doing it again...in and out, you will find that you are no longer focusing on the thousands of other little, and sometimes trivial thoughts that plague our minds.  I call these mini-meditations my 'brain breaks'.  Those simple moments where I think of nothing else to allow my mind to focus on only one thing.  It truly reins in my thoughts and helps me to focus on a single moment in time. 

So, in those moments when you hit your wits end, you run into that mental brick wall or you see rock bottom coming close, just stop...close your eyes...and just breathe.  Allow yourself to take those mini mental vacations to far away places.  Maybe in your mind you go sit on a beach and put your toes in the sand and hear nothing but the waves rolling in and out.  Maybe you go to a mountain top and hear nothing but the wind flowing though the trees.  Help your mind see clearly what you really have to do.  The rest will fall into place and you will see clearer the path you are needing to take. 

Ready?  Just breathe!