If you don’t know the answer to this question, or why even meditation is really something worthy of your daily effort – don’t worry.
Until recently, I didn’t know the answer to this either, and honestly, it’s taken me almost a decade to get to a place where I feel ready to commit to a daily practice around meditation and to recognize its value in carrying me forward to who I am becoming.
I commit to practice open heart meditation every day.
While this feels a little intimidating to put it out there, I know I'll be supported and will learn a lot from this, as it's one of the commitments I'll make as part of the my365 community.
Do you want to join me with this goal?
Do you have other ideas for commitments that will set you up for success next year?
Click learn more to understand how the my365 program works and to sign up!
There are a lot of different kinds of meditations out there.
For me, with most things I tend to throw myself in head-first – so my first taste of meditation was in a 10-day silent meditation retreat. Vipassana. The experience allowed me to deepen my self-awareness. I was not, however, able to bring the practice back into my everyday life.
After that I tried Transcendental Meditation (TM). While this style of meditation is very popular in the business world (and adored by my husband as well), this one never spoke to me. That’s an understatement. This one was a disaster for me. There is literally one instruction to repeat a special mantra that I've simply forgotten. Numerous times.
I’ve experienced and led many guided meditations, some healing-based, others bringing clarity to parts of the past, present and future. I’ve experienced deep spiritual meditations, chakra meditations. I’ve tried meditating with and without movement, with and without sound, in and out of nature, solo and in groups. These have all played an important role in my growth, but none have made it into my daily practice.
And then, this year I tried Open Heart Meditation for the first time and frankly, I haven’t looked back since. It’s because for me personally a lot of my power resides in my heart. Sometimes I can get stuck in my head and that is me at my worst. I find when I’m anchored in ‘heart’ I feel connected (to myself, to others, to the world in general), I feel emboldened to lead with love and ensure my actions are aligned to my vision and values and I feel free to bring myself fully into the moment, whatever that may look like.
I've learned a few things along this journey:
1. The benefits of meditation are in how it affects your state of being, both in, but especially outside, of the meditation. So while learning tactics and practices of what to do specifically in a meditation are of course important, it’s about staying focused on how the practice itself is bringing impact to how you experience your life. I once heard someone reflect on the key benefit of their practice as positioning them to “appropriately respond” to life’s ebbs and flows, no matter how micro or macro. For me at this stage, I see huge value in being able to stay grounded in 'heart' and to operate from a place of love.
2. If a meditation is not ‘working’ for you (whatever that means) there’s nothing wrong with you, nor is there anything wrong with the meditation or the community. Give it a full try, take the experience for what it is, and if you’re not having the kind of experience you think you’re ‘supposed’ to have or the kind of experience others have had, just let it go. Be open to experimenting with different styles of meditation across different communities.
3. The wise words of Mr. Goenka, from Vipassana meditation: "Start again."
When you fall off the wagon, start again.
When you notice you've become distracted, simply start again.
It's not about doing everything perfectly, it's about consistently being willing to start again.
What are you ready to take on next year?
What are some goals you have that if you took daily action would propel you forward?
I invite you to join me for the my365 program where you'll have a community to hold you accountable to areas you want to grow in and have the space to learn a lot along the way too.
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