\u201cThe thought of getting out of bed and get ready to tackle yet another day at work was just too much to handle. In fact\u2026each morning, it was beginning to feel like that more often than not. On this day I picked up the phone and called work to tell them I wasn\u2019t feeling good and I wasn\u2019t going into work. I hung up and IMMEDIATELY felt better. But it was fleeting. My next thought was about all the work I was going to have to make up the next day. The stress of that was just too much, so I got up and went to work. There was just too much going on and all these people relying on me\u2026I could not let them down\u2026 I JUST COULDN\u2019T TAKE A DAY OFF OF WORK!!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was a story from one of my clients, who wasn\u2019t able to find that delicate balance we all have in our personal and business life and who believed he was responsible for everybody and their success. We commit so much in our lives to doing things because (we think) we HAVE TO, and end up in a tangle of false perceptions, of illusions, forgetting what we actually WANT TO do. So what happens next??? Anxiety, Depression, Guilt, Unhappiness and then our body begins to break down and health (physical, mental, spiritual) becomes our biggest problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sad thing is that these stories never stop coming my way and it doesn\u2019t have to be this way. I have been in that place you are in now however I did not like it and I learnt to stop this cycle of negative self-talk. There are many tools I would love to share with you, however, it all begins with meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1.) Clarity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The best reason to begin to meditate is to gain clarity in what you want in your life. Go deep into what makes you happy. Not what makes others happy, what makes you happy, what fulfills YOU? Go back when you were growing up and school was out. Summer was great! No homework! All you had to worry about was what game you were going to play with your friends that day. We lived a stress free life back then didn\u2019t we? It is because we were clear in what we wanted. Fast forward to your life now. When I meditate, I ask within me for clarity on anything, my day, my job, my life, my mission. It was easy when we were kids. We didn\u2019t need to search for it. It was there\u2026always, we were connected to who we are, to our inner self. As we get older, we start to get pulled in many different directions, we are so conditioned by our environment and our \u201cduties\u201d we forget ourselves. That is the time to remind ourselves, to reconnect to what means most to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.) Intuition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We also call this our inner voice. How many times do we say to ourselves\u2026I wish I hadn\u2019t done that or I should have known better. Many of us have learned over the years to dismiss that inner voice, that gut feeling that helps guide us make right decision throughout our daily life. By not listening to that voice, how may \u201cwrong\u201d decisions do you think you\u2019ve accumulated in your lifetime, how many extra challenges? It\u2019s time to get that inner voice back AND then listen to it. The best part is that your inner voice, your intuition, will never abandon you. It\u2019s always there for you when you need it. During meditation you will reconnect with it and eventually learn to trust it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3.) Courage and Strength<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once we are clear in what we want and we listen to our intuition, we have to have the courage and strength to follow through. This can be the scariest of them all but the most gratifying. Through meditation I found the courage to do the things that I had always wanted to do and thought I never could. The more I meditated the more strength I had to say NO to things that I didn\u2019t want to do and say YES to the things that made me happy. Which brings me to the last point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4.) Joy and Happiness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I like to group these together even though they are a little different. Happiness is the daily events that happen in our life that ultimately bring Joy to our soul. It relies on the outside world. Joy is an inner state of being that comes from being at peace with oneself, from not judging oneself, from acceptance. When I lead a group in meditation I help uncover and eliminate the things that make us feel inadequate, the judgements we have of ourselves, by unlocking a sense of acceptance and freedom. Actually, when you are able to identify these judgements, these \u201cthrashings\u201d we give ourselves and let them go and start to accept ourselves, warts and all, the true joy of being who you are will come flooding through. That\u2019s where you will notice a big change in your life, your business and your health. The day you are able to call in sick and not feel guilty for doing it will be the happiest day of your life!…or even better: you will never need to call in sick, because you are managing your life differently. J<\/p>\n\n\n\n