The practices this week helped me realize I have always thought of mindfulness as the same thing as emotional health. But my emotions are separate from my thoughts, connected but two different things. It helps me to separate them out and think specifically about how to help my mind be healthy. I’m going to start doing meditation regularly and am trying to decide if that will be a daily or 3-4 times per week practice. I remember struggling a few weeks ago with what mental rest looks like and I think one part of that is training my thoughts to be able to set things down and be still, which meditation will help me practice.
This week’s practices felt hard for me - which surprised me, because I think I used to be someone who enjoyed mindfulness, centering, and contemplative practices, sometimes to the exclusion of other forms of connecting with God. I haven’t yet decided if this means I need them even more now or if this is a season for me to be learning and practicing other things!
For me, it was 50-50 in terms of challenges with the practices of the past week. The Loving-kindness and Lectio Divina meditations landed beautifully. I even did quite well with stillness.
I’ve often used the Pray As You Go app, which uses an approach to scriptures from the daily lectionary based on the practices of St. Ignatius. I will keep using this in the future.
I notice that I struggle most with the embodied practices of Body Scan & Breath Awareness….. and I still haven’t gotten to the silence/wise speech exercise. I definitely prefer to avoid noticing my body, which shows me an area of life where I need more healing.
Right now, I am going to aim for a body scan meditation every 2 weeks. I will need to start with the shortest body scan meditations available … I need to be realistic and give myself some grace because it’s challenging for me. It’s about progress, not perfection. And even 10 minutes every 2 weeks will help me better understand my body.
I will be working on silence during my upcoming retreat- and I’m actually excited about the opportunity for intentional quietness!
Colleen, staying realistic and at a pace that is comfortable to you, as you introduce new contemplative practices. May your intentional space of quietness be nourishing.
It was helpful typing different types of mindfulness. I’m always in two minds of whether I should push myself to do styles of meditation that are more difficult for me… or accept that which feels best is best for me. As I type this though I realise that it probably depends…
I have learned (or it’s been reinforced) that I can’t meditate lying down or I’ll fall asleep.
I still prefer a type of ‘moving’ meditation whether it be yoga, tapping, or while walking.
Embracing silence in my surroundings isn’t difficult for me. Silence in my mind is another thing!
The most powerful practice for me this week was the loving-kindness meditation. I plan to add this into my routines.
The practices this week helped me realize I have always thought of mindfulness as the same thing as emotional health. But my emotions are separate from my thoughts, connected but two different things. It helps me to separate them out and think specifically about how to help my mind be healthy. I’m going to start doing meditation regularly and am trying to decide if that will be a daily or 3-4 times per week practice. I remember struggling a few weeks ago with what mental rest looks like and I think one part of that is training my thoughts to be able to set things down and be still, which meditation will help me practice.
This week’s practices felt hard for me - which surprised me, because I think I used to be someone who enjoyed mindfulness, centering, and contemplative practices, sometimes to the exclusion of other forms of connecting with God. I haven’t yet decided if this means I need them even more now or if this is a season for me to be learning and practicing other things!
I too feel I'm discerning what to continue and new things to try! This course has been helpful in that process.
For me, it was 50-50 in terms of challenges with the practices of the past week. The Loving-kindness and Lectio Divina meditations landed beautifully. I even did quite well with stillness.
I’ve often used the Pray As You Go app, which uses an approach to scriptures from the daily lectionary based on the practices of St. Ignatius. I will keep using this in the future.
I notice that I struggle most with the embodied practices of Body Scan & Breath Awareness….. and I still haven’t gotten to the silence/wise speech exercise. I definitely prefer to avoid noticing my body, which shows me an area of life where I need more healing.
Right now, I am going to aim for a body scan meditation every 2 weeks. I will need to start with the shortest body scan meditations available … I need to be realistic and give myself some grace because it’s challenging for me. It’s about progress, not perfection. And even 10 minutes every 2 weeks will help me better understand my body.
I will be working on silence during my upcoming retreat- and I’m actually excited about the opportunity for intentional quietness!
Colleen, staying realistic and at a pace that is comfortable to you, as you introduce new contemplative practices. May your intentional space of quietness be nourishing.
It was helpful typing different types of mindfulness. I’m always in two minds of whether I should push myself to do styles of meditation that are more difficult for me… or accept that which feels best is best for me. As I type this though I realise that it probably depends…
I have learned (or it’s been reinforced) that I can’t meditate lying down or I’ll fall asleep.
I still prefer a type of ‘moving’ meditation whether it be yoga, tapping, or while walking.
Embracing silence in my surroundings isn’t difficult for me. Silence in my mind is another thing!
The most powerful practice for me this week was the loving-kindness meditation. I plan to add this into my routines.
Kris, it is wonderful to understand that movement-based meditations work best for you!