I have just finished reading 10 PERCENT HAPPIER by Dan Harris and have recommitted to a daily meditation practice. Meditation gives me the space to pause and as he puts it, get behind the waterfall of thoughts. With practice , I’ve learned I can observe my fears, my anxieties about the future or regret about the past while staying fully present. It’s a powerful tool especially in these dark times.
I have two different thoughts about this — a personal one and one that moves outside of my own circumstances. On a personal level, I have been helped in dealing with insomnia by using a mantra (or sometimes more than one) to interrupt and replace anxious thoughts about sleeping. The mantra is “this problem was created in my mind so my mind can uncreate it.” (I’ve also used “I’ve conquered this before and I will again.”) Saying this “out loud” in my head is both a reminder of the truth and also a way to displace scary thoughts. It opens up a different and more hopeful future. (I haven’t had insomnia in a long time but I know what to do if it ever returns.). That said, there are people facing genuine and legitimate fears for their futures that no amount of thinking can take away — like parents worried about being separated from their children or returned to a country where they are in danger. Just because I can use these strategies to reduce worries that, in effect, I have created myself, doesn’t mean that others are in a position to do that. And I worry about that!
I have just finished reading 10 PERCENT HAPPIER by Dan Harris and have recommitted to a daily meditation practice. Meditation gives me the space to pause and as he puts it, get behind the waterfall of thoughts. With practice , I’ve learned I can observe my fears, my anxieties about the future or regret about the past while staying fully present. It’s a powerful tool especially in these dark times.
I love that book!
I have two different thoughts about this — a personal one and one that moves outside of my own circumstances. On a personal level, I have been helped in dealing with insomnia by using a mantra (or sometimes more than one) to interrupt and replace anxious thoughts about sleeping. The mantra is “this problem was created in my mind so my mind can uncreate it.” (I’ve also used “I’ve conquered this before and I will again.”) Saying this “out loud” in my head is both a reminder of the truth and also a way to displace scary thoughts. It opens up a different and more hopeful future. (I haven’t had insomnia in a long time but I know what to do if it ever returns.). That said, there are people facing genuine and legitimate fears for their futures that no amount of thinking can take away — like parents worried about being separated from their children or returned to a country where they are in danger. Just because I can use these strategies to reduce worries that, in effect, I have created myself, doesn’t mean that others are in a position to do that. And I worry about that!