Welcome to day 2 of our 22 day guided meditation series,
Navigating recovery and overcoming adversity.
Most of us have good intentions but encounter opposition,
Actually converting them into new behaviors.
For example,
After learning you had some overwhelming student loan debt,
You set some financial goals and made a firm resolution that nothing would get in the way of them.
For a couple of months,
Everything went great and you stuck to your financial plans and goals which resulted in eliminating sizable amounts of debts.
However,
Then one day a couple of your friends ask you to go on a 3 day ski trip that consists of 3 days of lodging with 3 days of skiing for a total cost of $750.
And right there in that moment your resolve to continue paying off your debt vanishes and you decide to go on the trip anyway.
So who then has the ability to follow through with their desires and who is powerless to do so?
Well,
From a spiritual standpoint,
Each of us has two aspects to our being.
One is our individual self,
Our ego,
The other is our most universal self,
Our soul,
A power greater than our individual self,
A higher power,
God,
Whatever you want to call it.
Our individual self,
Our ego,
May wish to change our negative patterns and overcome our addictions,
But freedom from negative habits is not something that can be achieved.
Most of the time we are relying on our individual self,
Forcing ourselves to do it.
In that forceful nature we will almost always stumble backwards.
Therefore the path to free ourselves from addictive behavior lies in our willingness to acknowledge and surrender to our most universal selves,
Our soul,
Our higher power.
It is then by becoming increasingly intimate with our universal selves,
Our expanded self,
The attachments that keep us dependent upon things outside of ourselves begin to lessen their hold on us.
With that said,
Meditation can aid us in this journey of becoming increasingly intimate with our most universal self because as we learned yesterday,
Meditation is a technology for developing our spirituality,
And our spirituality can actually be defined as the journey from our most individual self to our most universal self.
Now let's prepare to meditate so we can expand our internal reference point from individual to universal which will enable us to transform our good intentions into life supporting choices.
Begin by finding a comfortable seat and closing your eyes.
Now begin to become aware of the breath,
Not focusing or concentrating,
Just simply observing the breath as it effortlessly flows in and flows out.
Now easily and effortlessly begin silently repeating today's mantra,
Ah hum,
Ah hum,
Ah hum.
Continue to repeat this mantra,
Ah hum,
And whenever you notice yourself distracted by thoughts,
Noises,
Or physical sensations,
Simply return your attention to silently repeating the mantra,
Ah hum,
Ah hum,
Ah hum.
Please continue with your meditation.
I will watch the time and when it's time to end our meditation,
You will hear me ring a soft chime.
When you hear the chime,
Stop repeating the mantra and continue sitting easily with your eyes closed.
Enjoy your meditation.
It's time to release silently repeating the mantra and continue sitting quietly with your eyes closed.
Now bring some slight movement into the body,
Wiggling your fingers and toes.
Whenever it feels comfortable,
You can slowly open your eyes.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and I look forward to meditating with you again tomorrow for day three of navigating recovery and overcoming adversity.
Namaste.
