How Meditation has Helped Me Not Be Crazy

We still need at least three more entries in the Pin It to Win It contest. I am so excited to give away these meditations!

unlock the power of meditationSomeone asked me recently how I have personally benefited from meditation. That’s kind of a tough question, because it’s like when you have children and they are growing. You don’t really notice as they get bigger day by day, because you see them all the time. I’m never not inside my body and mind, so it’s harder for me to see the difference in myself. Know what I mean?

That said, I still have a pretty good idea some of the ways that meditation has helped me.

Meditating daily keeps me grounded. I have a tendency to be in my head a lot – daydreaming, trying to solve problems of the world, or how to make something work better, imagining what is going to happen next week, or next month, or next year. Some of those things are pretty awesome, and I highly recommend them… as long as they are balanced with real action and being present in the moment to what is going on here and now.

Meditation helps me manage my pain. I was in a major car accident when I was 8. I live with pain every day. Some days its pretty easy. Other days there’s not enough ibuprofen and caffeine. Meditating helps me avoid being a pill-popping junkie. And those days where I just want to crawl back under the covers and cry, meditating helps me face the day like a big girl. Heck, meditation is what helped me get through a few months of gall bladder attacks back when I thought they were muscle spasms and ibuprofen wouldn’t touch the pain.

Meditation keeps me from being a jerk. Because I meditate in the morning regularly, I’m a lot calmer than the average bear. I have developed my capacity to respond instead of lashing out in reaction… most of the time anyway. Those times when I want to tell off my boss or my parents or that idiot driving as slowly as molasses in January on the two-lane highway when I’m already late for work – a few deep breaths and no one gets hurt.

Meditation keeps me from killing my children. Similar to the above, when my children are arguing with each other for the 2,358th time this hour, I breathe deeply, go to my sacred space, and the impulse to strangle them goes away. I can even usually manage to negotiate a peace treaty without screaming at them.

Meditation helps me connect with my inner guidance. Sometimes my mind starts going down a path, making up a story about a decision and imagining that the outcome is going to be fantastic or horrible. Then, when I check in during my meditation, I get to the truth that my mind has just made up the story. I can move on from a place of integrity and balance instead of from a place of illusion. The major decisions I’ve made after meditating on them ALWAYS turn out better than when I act on impulse.

Meditation makes me a better coach and priestess. I practice what I preach. I can connect with the Divine and understand what my clients and Circle members need – what will best support them.

It’s hard to remember what I was like before I started meditating regularly. I was a different person then. I definitely like myself better now, and so I’ll keep meditating.

Blessings,

Mary