Meditation - Find Your Own Inner Peace

I am really enjoying the Chopra Center's 21 Day Meditation Challenge. Each day, participants get a free meditation of about 15 minutes. Each day, there is a focus for the meditation. Today's introduction really spoke to me and I want to share it:

Releasing Negative Patterns and Addiction

As David Simon observes, we all are addicted to something. While you may not have a destructive relationship with alcohol, nicotine, or gambling, if you closely observe your thoughts, emotions, and behavior, you may notice that you have more subtle addictions, such as an addiction to approval, perfection, or control – or a compulsive need to be right. At the root of every non-nourishing behavior is a desire to fill unmet needs for security, comfort, self-esteem, and love. Yet acting out a pattern of addiction or compulsion will never fulfill our deepest needs. As the Sufi poet Hafiz advised,

“Learn to recognize the counterfeit coins that may buy you just a moment of pleasure,
But then drag you for days like a broken man behind a farting camel.”

One of the greatest gifts of meditation is the clarity and peace it opens in our lives, allowing us not only to recognize the counterfeit coins, but to no longer feel compelled by them. Meditation helps us realize that all our happiness, love, and wellbeing reside within. In meditation, we tap into our own, inexhaustible source of good as we release the need to seek it outside of ourselves. This doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy our possessions, relationships, and activities – only that we know we aren’t dependent on them for our happiness. In today’s meditation, we will experience the gifts within and begin to release any negative patterns in our lives.

This was especially touching to me, because about 8 months ago, my husband and I gave up red meat. Then, a friend told me about her sugar addiction and the mental and emotional clarity she gained by deleting sugar from her diet. Back in July, I gave up sugar myself. Of course, any meal plan that eliminates sugar also eliminates alcohol, so I'm alcohol free, too.

I guess I've been patting myself on the back for these healthy new habits and then today's meditation brought me to other patterns I am still dragging behind me: addictions to approval, perfection, or control. Make that and control!

Yes, I see how I allow these obsessions to fill my life and cause me to be anxious and fearful. So, today, armed with a new kind of inner peace, I am setting an intention to go within and rest in that sweet place and allow the real me to come out and play!

Oh, and a note about the other habit mentioned: the need to be right. I gave that one up a few years ago, when a wise mentor asked me if I would rather be right or happy. Anytime my sweet husband or a friend brings up a factoid that I may think is incorrect, I remember this and smile. It's so much more nourishing to myself (and them) to just let them think they are right! In the end, does it really matter anyway?

If you would like to join the Chopra 21 Day Challenge, go here:

http://www.chopracentermeditation.com/bestsellers/MEDITATION_WINTER_2012/register.asp

Releasing Weight - My New Heart Adventure

I remember being told in my hypnosis training five years ago that Americans don't like the concept of "losing weight" so refer to it as "releasing excess pounds." As Americans, we DON'T like to lose!

I get it, but at the heart of it, it is about losing something that no longer serves us, releasing something and letting go. Yes, it's all of those things.

Over the past 30 years, I have gained and lost 50 pounds twice and it's time to lose it again!

In a meditation last night, I was clearly shown how this weight has protected me in many ways:

childhood hurts & abuse
wounds by people I love
sensitivity to others
defensive strikes
loss & grief
fear & shame
anger & rage
lack of love

In an earlier meditation, I was shown the door to my heart. With Google images and a little help from Paint software and the addition of a door knob, the graphic at the top is a pretty good

representation of what I saw. Inside, I saw this beautiful little girl in braids, dressed like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, swinging in a beautiful swing, decorated with yellow garlands of flowers up and down the ropes.

My little self, my Dreamer Self says she is ready to help me “peel away the layers.”
“I’ll help you,” she says, “and then I can come out and play.”

‘It’ll be fun---you’ll see.”

She went on to say that we will know fun and fearless flying and a type of Friendship I have never known.

Another interesting image was that the little girl (who I knew instantly was me) had a “heart-shaped” face and wore braids, just like I wore when I was young. When I really look at myself and take away the bangs that I have worn since my 20’s when blow dryers came into existence, I HAVE a heart-shaped face. My “widow’s peak” and my cheeks give me a heart shaped face. I just don’t see it, because I always have my bangs.

The little girl was swinging, going back and forth and zooming very high up. It was as if she was flying.

I have a feeling we have many more visits and interesting journeys to take together, now that I’ve found her again. And, I can’t wait to release all of these pounds. I have a feeling it will be easier this time!