Starting Where You Are (Meditation Reminder)

Pema Chodron wrote a book called "Start Where You Are". It talks about letting go of all the unnecessary baggage we carry around. We carry around guards because we don't want people to see who we really are. We're afraid of judgement. Even if we recognize that everyone else is playing a role we still can't separate from our roles because what would other people think if we did that? People see us a certain way and we think it is hard to change that because we've played the role for so long. It seems daunting to make a change because we can't picture the outcome. We can't picture how we would be received by other people. And it's comfortable to stick with the habits and behaviors we're accustomed to.

The first thing to understand is that this is a gradual process. Making the first attempt to change is incredibly significant because starting something can often be the most difficult thing to do. Recognizing the negative thinking is the first thing to do. Once you do that you have already made a giant leap towards happiness. Becoming aware of the ego and it's many faces is so important because just from the awareness it loses power. We can realize that we have started a change in our life that really hasn't made a difference in how we act yet. It is so little but huge at the same time. It's a change that happens over time we can comprehend that everyone, ourselves included, has time to adapt to the new way of life. If everything happened at once then nobody would understand what happened. It would seem so foreign if all of the sudden we were happy....even we wouldn't know what to do. Soon we would fall back into our old way of thinking and living because we wouldn't understand how we got to the point of happiness.

The gradual molding of our behavior needs to be done one step at a time so we can learn what we we do wrong and how the new way is much more conducive to a positive life.

When we learn the new ways it is still a challenge to pry away from old habits that we have become so familiar with. We feel secure with what we know. Even if it's miserable and torturous. We don't know anything else. Happiness comes with being vulnerable and that is the last thing most people want to do. If we experience anything good and are removed from our ego by chance, we negative thoughts return and we succumb automatically. We close off from the world and return to the cocoon of security and comfort which is usually our misery produced by our ego.

It's a process and requires a commitment. Why would we not undertake this chance to grow? The alternative is to suffer.

I've decided to end each of my posts with a reminder of one of the biggest tools to transform your old habits and transcend your ego. THIS IS MEDITATION! I meditate every day. It is life changing. Sit down for a few minutes when you have time and clear your mind. There is no wrong way to meditate. Let the thoughts come and be AWARE of the when they become negative. Just the awareness will help evaporate them. Replace them with positive ones and you can use a mantra if you want.

Eventually you want to focus on the gaps between your thoughts and the goal is to keep extending the gap. Thoughts will come and just acknowledge them. Then let them go.

A GOOD way to reach a meditative state quickly is through monaural beats.

 Check some out Here

You have to start somewhere. Start wherever you are.

Recognizing patterns

When we're depressed we tend to get caught in the state of self-pity. "Poor me." We wonder why life has dealt us the genetics we have and question why everybody else is happy but us. It seems that there's no way we can get out from the blanket of despair and we become hopeless. Lack of motivation plagues our days and energy gradually evaporates like a puddle in a heat wave. Some even forget how they became so sad and lethargic and it's a very dark place to be.

We have to understand that there's a reason we feel this way and most often it stems from our repeated behaviors. The depression comes from a way of life that we have fallen into. Nobody notices the slow descent into this state of being and it's hard to remember how we got there. The first step to climbing out of the funk is to realize what is causing the sadness.

At the root of all depression is our thinking. Our mind is full of negative, self-sabotaging thoughts that imprison us in a perpetual state of hopeless self-pity producing a distorted outlook on life. The view we have of ourselves is essential in building our self esteem and moving towards happiness. Depressed people tend to constantly make assumptions. "That person doesn't like me." "I'll never be able to do that." We question our ability to do things and then we build a belief that we are not good enough and less than. That belief generates thoughts that are self-critical and pessimistic and the more we believe them the stronger the belief becomes.

Self-talk is the most important part of reversing our depression. Negative self-talk equals low confidence and low self-worth. In order to be happy we have to first be able to like ourselves. How can we like ourselves if we're always putting ourselves down? The first rule of positive thinking is: don't beat yourself up. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt. We are used to overacting to things we perceive we have done wrong and tearing ourselves down, overanalyzing every little detail of our day and magnifying the negative things. We completely overlook any positive things or if we do notice them they are minimized.

Giving credit where credit is due is crucial. If we don't then we are simply refusing to acknowledge the good things we do. Dismissing something is basically believing that it didn't happen. We have to tell ourselves we did a good job when we actually did. Even if it wasn't that good of a job we can still say it was a good effort.

Recognizing the negative thinking we have is the first step in attaining happiness. Recognition is the birth of awareness.

Why's Everybody Depressed?

Everybody knows that in order to be happy we have to establish a positive mindset. However, a happy mind seems to be the ever elusive goal most people strive for every day. Why is it so hard? We live in a society that has suffocated youth with "big business" and their advertisements for decades. Sex, alcohol, cigarettes, junk food, and sugar have been shoved down our throats through billboards, magazines, and of course television. In this technological age everyone is fixated on the T.V. screen instead of being in the sun. Computers and iPhones consume an individual's attention instead of a conversation and texting someone is what we do even when we are physically with someone else! Depression is common nowadays with everybody getting in line to fill a prescription of Prozac.

There's so many things we can do to stay out of the trap the mind likes to set for us. If you're depressed you might think I don't know what it's like therefore I don't understand. Well I used to be severely depressed for a long time, and I have learned to overcome it with the help of a conscious change in my lifestyle. There are tons of things I have learned over the last couple years that I had previously been blind to. Really all we have to do is snap out of it. Waking up and literally smelling the coffee can bring you out of your funk.....even if it's just for a few seconds! Sometimes that's all the hope you need to get through the day. I know what it's like to contemplate suicide and pray to God for "the sweet release." I know what it's like to wake up and dreadfully count the seconds until I get to go to sleep again. I wished so badly that I could wake up in my dreams and become lucid or astral project into a dream reality because my waking life was so damn miserable. With my depression came crippling anxiety in all forms. From generalized to social anxiety, I was a nervous wreck that couldn't get out of bed. When I did manage to get out all I could think about was getting back in.

I just started this blog so if you read this and relate to it/like it then add me on google + or here on blogger? Not sure how that works but thanks for reading!