Writing Every Day.
Not an easy task. I have the confidence that I will succeed because of an in-built arrogance, and recent track record of success: Journalling, cold showers, making the bed as soon as we get up, folding clothes in a specific Marie Kondo style. Yes they are all simple things, think how much more I can achieve as I sustain daily habits. Think how much YOU can achieve with daily habits.
Meditation has been the most recent addition, and the hardest to achieve.
I was first introduced to meditation as a fourteen year-old schoolboy by the late, and much missed, Bob ‘Kate’ Smith. Our reasoning being that if we could relax our minds enough we would be able to safely pass our hands through a candle flame.
And why not?
It worked too.
Bob had a bootleg cassette of which i took a copy, simply labelled relax. It was a 40 minute guided meditation that I listened to every single night. I soon found that I was a lot calmer (a big deal as the overly-hormonal eldest of 4 in a noisy household) and slept better.
After a few months I no longer needed the cassette as I could play it all in my head. 34 years later this is still the case.
Like so many aspects of our busy lives I pretty much forgot about it over the years until I came across a familiar voice in a sample on the track ‘The Hypnotist’ by Sisterlove on the album Café Del Mar Volumen Uno.
A futile Google left me empty handed but I never again forgot about it, and would occasionally launch another search.
Eventually I found it.
Relaxation, by Barrie Konikov – Potentialsunlimited.com
At long last I had the source material in a form that was listenable (the tape had eventually snapped).
These days I have to listen to it every couple of months, I no longer have the same super-human powers of recall of youth.
A couple of months ago a close family friend was telling us how much meditation had helped his soul, and that he had not missed a day on over a year using the Calm app.
Having tried and failed with Headspace a couple of times I gave it a go. By happy accident i downloaded Waking Up instead, which immediately resonated with me. I love the educational side of it, and I have found I am much ore aware of my feelings, less likely to allow them to take control, less likely to Chimp out.
Do i meditate every day? No. I have yet to fully prioritise it, even though I am more focussed and productive on the days I do meditate. No excuses, I’m getting there.
No excuses. To help, you can click here for a free month
For some of you price may be a barrier to getting started, so Sam has a wonderful answer to that. If, after your free month, you love it and want to continue but genuinely cannot afford to subscribe to the app you can get free access for a year. All you need to do is ask.
No excuses.
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