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Mindfulness Myth #4

by Spiwe Jefferson
July 10th 2021
00:07:18
Description

My mind races all the time! I can't get my thoughts to settle down. Meditation must not be for me. It's a myth! In this episode we debunk it and talk about one of the hardest aspects of m... More

Are you anxious stressed mind racing. Do you have trouble sleeping? Are you looking for secrets to peace? And a happier life joints be way jefferson certified mindfulness practitioner and lawyer dedicated to helping you learn to apply mindfulness meditation to the personal and professional challenges of everyday life, harness the power of mindfulness meditation to live and work to your highest and best purpose. Starting with just five minutes a day. Well, hello there and welcome to Mindful in five where we learn how to apply mindfulness and meditation to the challenges of everyday life and bite sized episodes for people with no time. Just like you. My name is viewer jefferson and today we are talking about a common myth of meditation in our series of five myths, this is myth number four.

My mind races. And so this cannot be for me. So, uh to illustrate this challenge, uh imagine yourself locked in a room with a toddler. You have constructive things to do so that you are calmly undertaking your tasks. Meanwhile, the toddler is bouncing off the walls, He skips around in circles, he tries to pick the wood off the door, then he tries to lick the paint off the wall When that gets boring, he tugs at your clothes to get your attention. The minute you turn, he throws up his arms and buzzes around you screaming with glee. When you return to your desk he falls on the floor, arms and legs flailing and howls with rage. The world of mindfulness meditation, the toddler is your mind.

He is especially rowdy when you are experiencing difficult and stressful situations in your life. He has been behaving badly for years. So especially when you try to enforce the law of order and concentration And focus. Your mind will rebel racing and falling on the floor and generally acting full. And there you are sometimes struggling and fighting just to maintain that focus. Every time you try to sit down for just five minutes of mindfulness meditation. So here's the good news. This happens to everybody. It will take time. It will take patients. It will take practice to tame that toddler. But if you keep at it you can attain many if not all the benefits that meditation can deliver.

But don't expect change immediately and don't lose heart if you don't experience instant success and don't be discouraged if you simply spend some mornings battling that errant toddler when I started meditating over 15 years ago. Now I set my clock. All I could do is two minutes. And here I am asking you to just start with five. So I set my clock for two minutes and there I sat trying to meditate and I'm a God lover. So I was engaged in God focused meditation and all I had was one simple phrase. Lord, I love you Lord, I love you. So here's how this went. Set my clock two minutes. Lord, I love you Lord. I love you know what I'm supposed to be doing is thinking about that. What does it really mean to love the Lord? It means I trust you. It means I take you with me wherever I go. It means that I follow your um direction and your instruction. It means I consult you when I have a big decision and oh by the way I need to go grocery shopping today.

Now what do I need for my grocery list? Let me see. Well let's see. I think we're out of bread. Oh wait, wait, wait Lord, I love you Lord, I love you Lord, I love you. My goodness. Did we finish the milk or is that just me? I thought we did. Um hang on, let me see. Wait wait wait Lord, I love you. I mean literally that's how it went and it felt like it was five hours and pretty soon I started thinking well you know, gosh I don't think I set my alarm correctly because it's not it's not going off. So then I sat there just waiting for my alarm to go off. The alarm isn't going off. Gosh, darn it! Um Surely it's been like an hour now I opened my eyes and it's only been a minute and a half, wow. This stuff is hard. So all that to say do not do not lose heart if you find that your mind does exactly the same thing that my mind did. People who have been meditating for years have the same experience and sometimes you might feel like you look at all this progress I'm making, I feel still things are going well and then the very next week you might spend the entire time just fighting for focus and concentration.

So don't despair. You keep talking and you keep working at taming that toddler for now success is just sticking to the practice. Just take five minutes each morning before you start your day and try to be still and focus on days when your concentration is at its worst, you just say to yourself, you know what my toddler brain run amok today but that's okay because I'll be back to try again tomorrow and then come back tomorrow and try again until when. Well as long as there is breath in your body, there is a new opportunity to try stick with it and you will get better. Mhm. Thank you for listening to Mindful in five join the Mindful in Five community at www dot Mindful in five dot com To sign up for the weekly companion emails to this podcast which include a new guided meditation each month and five day, five minute meditations to supercharge your journey towards inner peace and success, visit the instagram page at Mindful in Five or the facebook page at Spey Way Publications until next time.

Be mindful and be well

Mindfulness Myth #4
Mindfulness Myth #4
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