Greetings and welcome to the Why Struggle Podcast.
I'm your host,
Barbara J.
Faison,
And my intention with this podcast is to offer ideas,
Insights,
And inspirations so you can live life better.
Greetings and welcome to 2020 for Week 32,
My Practices Part 2,
My Map.
This is an episode about the M in My Map.
My Map.
In last week's episode,
Week 31,
I mentioned that we make around 35,
000 decisions in a day.
Listen,
That's a lot of picking and choosing.
We may decide what to eat,
What to wear,
How to spend our day,
And more.
Any way you look at it,
That's a lot of decisions being made all day long.
If I don't have certain things I do to manage my mind,
I can easily begin to feel overwhelmed.
Managing my mind is essential to staying grounded in my life,
And I'm so grateful that I started these practices a long time ago.
Another one of my practices I call My Map includes meditations,
Affirmations,
And prayers.
This excerpt from my book,
Audiobook e-book,
Why Struggle Life is Too Short to Wear Tight Shoes,
Is My Map Meditations.
My Spiritual Practices.
Slowing down and paying attention to what is right in front of me has truly opened me up to more opportunities and grace.
Silence,
Meditation,
Listening to music,
Walking,
And forgiveness are some of my spiritual practices that help me stay grounded.
It's called a practice because it is doing something regularly or constantly as an ordinary part of your life.
When I stray from my daily meditation,
Affirmation,
And prayers,
I immediately feel it.
That's why it's called a daily spiritual practice,
Not a whenever-I-feel-like-doing-it practice.
Can you imagine your favorite sports team showing up for the game without practicing first and expecting to play well and win?
Not at all.
Practice is part of the process.
Over the years,
My spiritual practice has evolved based on what I have going on in my life.
The key thing is to find what works for you as a practice and to practice.
My current practices are meditations,
Affirmations,
And prayers,
And whatever moves me at the time.
My map?
Meditations.
Years of living alone conditioned me to enjoy quiet in the morning.
I rarely turned on the television when I was getting dressed for the day.
My meditations vary now based on what is happening in my world.
My meditations vary based on what is happening in my world.
There are times I sit and focus on specific areas of my life and visualize.
Sometimes I sit and enjoy the quiet of nature.
I go with whatever flow I feel like that day.
There are so many resources for meditation.
Walking is one of my favorite types of meditation now.
As Lacey and I walk,
I am drawn to the beauty all around me from the trees,
Flowers,
Butterflies,
To the sun shining down on my skin.
Lacey has become one of my daily teachers.
Some days,
As we walk the neighborhood,
She will slow down and sniff the grass or flowers she sees every day as if it's her first time seeing them.
I listen to the birds as we walk the neighborhood,
And I feel the gentle touch of the wind on a crisp fall morning.
When I see butterflies in my area,
I smile and say,
Hi,
Mom.
Witnessing God through birds,
Butterflies,
And other amazing creatures is its own meditation.
End of excerpt.
One of my favorite types of meditation is using a grounding practice.
Enjoy this brief grounding practice I created earlier this year.
It uses a combination of sound,
Breath,
And visualization.
Greetings and welcome to this grounding practice.
In this practice,
We will connect with our root chakra,
Which is located at the base of the spine.
If you'd like to,
You can stand or you can be seated with your feet flat on the ground.
We'll do some breath work,
And then we'll move into some sound vibration using the tone Lam,
L-A-M.
If you're ready,
Let's begin.
Press your feet into the ground as you place your hands right in the middle of your heart space and right below your belly.
Begin to connect with your own breathing rate and rhythm.
Notice how that feels.
Notice how that feels.
Breathe.
And imagine,
Sense,
Or feel you have roots coming from the bottom of your feet,
Going deep into the center of the earth.
And there is a beautiful ruby red crystal.
And your roots wrap around this crystal.
And as you're breathing in and out,
You feel the energy coming in from this crystal,
Coming through the roots,
Through the bottom of your feet.
Through the bottom of your feet,
You feel that energy coming up,
Connecting to your body,
Giving you the strength,
The courage,
And everything you need to be strong and feel safe in this moment.
As you breathe in,
Breathe in the word Lam.
And as you exhale,
Say that word and that tone as long as your breath allows.
You may follow my lead and then move into your own pace.
We'll do three rounds of Lam.
So let's begin.
Breathe in.
Return to your regular breathing.
Relax your hands.
Notice how you feel.
Remind yourself,
I am safe.
I feel grounded.
Thank you for joining me for this grounding practice.
Since writing this in 2017,
Lacey is no longer on this earth plane.
A few things may have changed regarding how I meditate.
I still create the time to be in stillness and quiet before I start my day.
Qigong and journaling regularly are also part of my meditative practices.
Meditation doesn't always mean being still.
Yoga and Qigong are great moving meditations.
Conscious breathing is also one way I connect with the present moment to relax my mind,
Body,
And spirit.
Placing one hand in the center of my chest and taking 10 deep breaths is also a lovely quick meditation practice.
It keeps me grounded and centered and moves my mind into a more calm space.
In part three next week,
I'll share some affirmations I have used and new affirmations I currently use.
With all going on in our lives and in the world,
How do you stay grounded?
Leave a comment where you're listening to this podcast or an observation or reflection.
