Making Time

So, I had gotten away from my daily meditation after starting a new job by telling myself that I just didn't have the time and energy to do this. Then, last week, my car died. Suddenly, I was back to taking the bus and killing 2 1/2 hours of my day riding on or waiting for buses. So I got out my ipod, loaded up my favorite meditation tracks, and listened as I rode to work. I found that my headphones drowned out the world enough that I could settle back into my seat and on one leg of my trip had enough time in the bus to listen to my favorite meditation track. I also found that almost immediately the things that were beginning to wear on me no longer seemed to have the same impact, for I felt more centered and able to focus my energy on the places that it needed to go. I felt less drained. I don't get crap for sleep these days which needs to change, but I feel more able to deal with the sleep deprivation because I feel more centered.
I must make this happen daily. No matter what, in the morning I need to take that 30-45 minutes to get balanced for the day. There's a significant enough difference between when I do it and when I skip it that it obviously just needs to happen.

Goodness

It's been a long time. My new job has kept me crazy busy, but as sleep becomes challenging, it's time to break out the meditation for another round! 

I hope all have been enjoying life's little challenges and that all have fared well over the past couple of months.

Meditations 31 & 32

Meh, meditations haven't been very fruitful this week. I think I need to go back to the podcasts for some quick meditations. Been all tied up with work and have had so much swirling around in my head, that it's hard to focus and cram everything into the box of "leave behind so you can focus on your breathing"

Alrighty, just wanted to do a quick update before I went and crashed for the night!

Meditations 28, 29, & 30

it's been sporadic this week. New job, so training has left me feeling exhausted and I've not had enough time in the morning to do this. I went to bed super early last night and attempted twice, but that didn't work out so well. Did one for "sweet dreams" but I ended up sleeping poorly and having nightmares. I snapped out of the meditation about halfway through and never could quite get it back.
I guess I will try again tonight after work.
Actually, the last 3 I've had trouble with. Can't quiet the mind, can't settle the body down. Might have to try the super deep relaxation again.

Meditation 27

Můj mozek bolí!
I tried and failed to meditate this morning. I must have gone through 3 or 4 different recordings, but I was so distracted by the crap I need to get done this weekend, that I could not settle my mind down enough to focus. One was super promising, but then cut off right in the middle. GRR. 
I've been studying all day for a test I have on Monday, so late posting and then I may try one more time for the late night meditation before I zonk and start over tomorrow.

Dobrou noc!

Meditation 26

So today I stumbled across a "communicate with your pet" meditation. I was unable to resist. 

I promptly fell asleep, woke up when they said something about awakening and my cat (who had been sleeping) was sitting and staring at me. Much laughter followed.

Meditation 25

I thought I had stumbled upon some glorious meditation podcasts. I used them for weeks, slowly making progress. Little steps forward, and little steps back. Then today, I did one by The Monroe Institute. It was like I've been blind all this time, and now I see. I was given some of their stuff about a year ago. I'd put some of it on over my speakers at bedtime, to aid me with sleep, but it never did anything. Once I used it on the train in an attempt to help me relax around the huge crowd of people that always left me anxious. That time I had almost missed my stop because I thought I'd fallen asleep. This was not falling asleep.
Holy cow!
So, I started off being amused because it made me think of The Twilight Zone. This guy was narrating, the sounds in my ears were unusual... sometimes almost alien like. I followed the instructions, putting the stuff that has been on my mind into a big box in my head and walking away from it. I never once thought about that stuff, mostly I would hear this sound in one ear that made me think of when my mom used to rub my head and I would fall asleep. He would talk, but it wasn't the kind of thing that would snap me out of whatever state I'd managed to get myself into. It was far away, and not distracting. He said at one point that when he got to 20 I'd be asleep. It was like I was there, but I had no control over my body. By the time he got to 20, my head had completely fallen to the side (I was sitting back in a recliner) and then in the reverse he said when he got to 1 I'd be awake... when he got to 10 my head seemed to snap back up to center and drifted a bit to the right, like I was waking up and dozing off, at 5 it went to center, and at 1 my eyes opened just before he said open your eyes and somewhere around 7 or 6 I began to laugh, like uncontrollable laughter, by 1 I had happy tears streaming down my face and I was cracking up, and then after 1... it just stopped.
Weirdest. Experience. Ever.
But I'm totally down for anything these guys put out. I actually feel SO much better. Better than I have in.. I don't know, since I can't remember when. I think it totally hypnotized me, and that's not an easy thing to do. I've seen multiple people to be hypnotized and they've never been able to do it.
I'm no longer laughing like a loon, but I still feel a little bit like I'm floating in the ether, still giddy, and my entire body is tingling.
That was completely insane. I can't wait to try out their other stuff.