Hi,
My name is Piroos and today I would like to talk about meditation and mindfulness.
And I'm actually quite excited to start this new year with this topic.
In the month of January the topic will be around meditation and how it can help us to improve our everyday life.
We will talk about what it is,
Its benefits,
Why it is so hard to be present and I will also provide you various exercises to do at the comfort of your own home.
The reason that I want to talk about it is because I've seen the benefits of meditation myself and I want to give back some things that I have found useful to provide a bit of help,
Even if it's small,
To people who find it hard to be present and appreciate life amidst their daily routine.
Actually,
Mindfulness is so crucial,
Especially the modern way of living,
Where everyone runs continuously and strangely enough never arrives.
It's this daily routine where we are so busy and almost never productive and when we are productive or something good happens into our life we are never really there to appreciate it.
We are just drawn to any direction by the current.
And because I believe in the importance of mindfulness I incorporate it into my coaching sessions with my clients.
At the end of this audio I will provide a simple exercise for you to try out.
But what is meditation?
You see,
Most of the times we don't admit,
Even to ourselves,
That life does not always live up to our expectations,
With the result to accumulate anxiety,
Stress and to become depressed.
However,
We can relate to emotional and challenging situations with balance and compassion through meditation.
Now,
Meditation is the practice of focusing our attention on a specific object.
And the object can be our breath,
Can be a word,
A sound,
A candle flame,
Can be thoughts,
Feelings,
Our body sensations,
Could be the world around us.
Actually we can meditate upon anything.
Mindfulness,
However,
Goes a step further.
It is paying attention without judgment in the here and now,
No matter what our current situation is.
Mindfulness is about being present with what we do or happen to us.
And I take as a fact that all,
If not most of us,
Have tried to stop painful thoughts.
And I also presume that that was unsuccessful,
At least for a prolonged period of time.
Next time we will talk about those reasons.
But for now,
Let me assure you that,
As with everything,
The more we practice mindfulness,
The easier it becomes.
But why would you want to practice mindfulness?
Well,
Being mindful is a skill.
We need to practice it in order to become better,
But better on what,
You may ask.
Have you ever found yourself going to bed to sleep and wondering where the whole day has gone?
You definitely remember being at work,
Then back home,
Perhaps watching something in the evening on Netflix.
But still,
Where has your day gone?
It's on those cases where time seems to go faster and faster,
That we know that the automatic pilot is on.
And we don't do it consciously.
It's the way of our daily routine,
It's that we have made it a habit.
We turn off our mind and we relive every single day exactly like the previous one.
And we are never present to appreciate the variations and the incredible magic of every single moment.
You see,
Most of us,
Living the past or in the future,
Will relive painful old memories or worrying about all the things that may go wrong in the future.
And the result is that we are not present in the moment where our life actually takes place.
The interesting thing is that even when we think of the past or the future,
Our thinking always happens now.
And if you think about this,
Now is the only time that exists.
Now let's talk about thoughts as facts.
Because you see,
We humans are conditioned to take our thoughts as facts.
And I have seen it first of all from myself but also from my coaching clients.
A thought pops up into our head and suddenly it becomes our reality.
The other day I waved to a friend from across the street.
He didn't acknowledge me back and I was wondering why he is angry with me since everything was fine last time I saw him.
What is interesting is that our mind creates all sort of assumptions.
And it does that because it's easier to make a prediction when something is known.
So believing that someone is angry with me is more certain than wondering why he didn't wave back.
So another crucial benefit of being mindful is that we start taking our thoughts for what they are.
And that is pure images,
Words,
Symbols,
Without any real substance or reality behind them.
But more about that in the following weeks.
So how about if we jump into a simple but powerful mindful exercise for you to try out now?
It's about focusing on the breath.
And what I find very interesting with the breath is that it can be voluntary and it can be involuntary.
And it's always with us.
So there is no excuse for you now.
And the exercise actually is so simple that you don't have to be in a room alone with your eyes closed.
You can do it as you walk down the street,
As you wait for your bus or train.
You can do it anywhere.
So for the next few moments,
The next few minutes,
Notice your breathing on your nostrils.
Or at your ribcage.
Or at your abdomen.
Or your shoulders.
All of them are moving while we breathe.
Sooner or later,
You will notice that you are distracted by thoughts,
Which is normal.
When this happens,
Just acknowledge the interruption as you would nod your head to some passing people at the street.
When you do that,
You acknowledge them and then you let them go on their journey.
Same with this breathing exercise.
Notice the presence of your intruding thoughts or any other interruption for that matter and let it be.
Allow your thoughts to come and go as they please,
While you keep your attention on your breathing.
If boredom or anxiety arises,
Again acknowledge it and return to your breathing.
That's the whole exercise.
And with practice,
You will become better at noticing your interruptions and on returning your focus on the object of your focus.
I hope you enjoyed this audio and you find it useful.
And if you have any questions or thoughts or insights or you would like to share your ideas and thoughts with us,
Please put them in the comments below.
Thank you for listening.
