I am a mother, wife, web developer, blogger, business manager and business owner. I have an 8-year-old and an almost 13-year-old. I volunteer at the elementary and middle school. My children are in band, on the robotics team, play baseball and run on the cross country team. As a family, we like to travel, hike, camp and stay active in our community and church. Are you tired yet? I used to be. I used to run myself crazy until I found balance.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “You can’t pour from an empty glass.” Well, I found my glass was getting to be bone dry. Even though I would workout every morning and try to eat healthily, I still felt like I was missing something. My mind was never content. I was constantly overwhelmed.
January 1st of this year I made a promise to myself that I would attempt to meditate every day. I had no real meditation training or experience. I just knew that this was something that I wanted to try to do for myself. I started small with a few minutes every day. Just closing my eyes and focusing on my breathing. Then a couple of weeks into my challenge a friend told me about a donation based 4-week meditation class. I signed up and started going to these classes (my husband even decided to go with me).
During the first class, my instructor charged us with meditating for 15 minutes once a day for a week. That sounded like a LONG time compared to my 5-minute max. He gave us a universal mantra to meditate on and sent us on our way. The first week of meditating 15 minutes a day came with mixed results. Some days it seemed like the 15 minutes flew by, while other days I found my mind wandering and the 15 minutes seemed to drag by.
The next week he charged us with meditating 20 minutes once a day. Again, some days were good, others not so much. The third week he really challenged us. He told us to try to meditate 20 minutes twice a day. Whoa, whoa whoa, buddy! That’s just crazy talk I thought.
I didn’t want to give up so I decided to wake up 20 minutes earlier than usual and meditate first thing in the morning and then meditate before I went to bed. This was a life-changing week. I started to feel happier (even going on less sleep). I had more mental clarity. I found myself being able to take on challenges better. I was also less agitated. This was the week that I realized that there really was something to this whole meditation thing.
Since then I have been meditating 20 minutes a day twice a day (give or take a few days here and there). I haven’t missed a day of meditating since I gave myself the challenge to meditate every day. And my life has drastically changed for the better. I went from being scattered, stressed and frustrated at myself to now, helping my husband pull off planning a yoga festival.
With all that said, I know I’m not the only crazy, stressed parent out there. And I want to help spread this magical tool with you all. But I don’t want to overwhelm you so I’m going to give you some tips on how to help fit meditation in your life in baby steps.
I will slowly put these tips out for you in an easy to digest and follow way. To make sure you don’t miss any of these tips, be sure to sign up for updates. These tips will arrive in your inbox as I post them every week.
Until then, if you have any specific questions about meditation, please be sure to leave me a comment below or send me an email at cyndi@https://momelite.com.
I am absolutely crazy stressed out most day and KNOW I could benefit from meditation but I need to find the patience to do it. My mind is always racing.
I absolutely understand. One thing I was told early on in my practice is to stop judging my thoughts as they come. Be patient with your thoughts as you meditate. Thoughts will happen and that’s ok. Sometimes I find clarity for my never ending todo list when I’m meditating.