by nicolaou 6 Replies latest jw experiences
I don't have any particular method or system but I'm often happy in my own company. I value periods of solitude when I can just drift off and follow my own thoughts.
Maybe it's not much more than daydreaming but a glass of scotch and some tunes can sometimes light up a memory or bring a hazy idea into focus.
Peace and quiet are my luxuries, what about you guys?
I practice meditation, I find it very helpful in reducing stress and helping with my ADHD.
I also like a glass or two of wine on the weekend.
I practice mediation and mindfulness. In fact I'm headed to my yoga class and we always do a meditation and receive Reiki afterwards.
Adiva
I've always valued periods of solitude and quiet. I need that on a regular basis. It's very therapeutic and invigorating.
I started practicing Mindfulness Meditation a few years ago when I experienced a lot of stress due to health problems. It helped immensely and I continue to practice it. I highly recommend it.
I'm a bit like you, Nic, in that I don't practice formal meditation or follow an established method.
Every once in a while, I just buy a can of cider and sit alone on my favourite bench in my local park. I've seen a kestrel hovering, scanning for prey, a buzzard soar overhead and several herons (or the same individual several times,hunting and flying).
It's so peaceful, picturesque and green. I think it's therapeutic.
I like to sit outside as the sun goes down, with a glass of (preferably) brandy, and a Cigar. I drink and smoke and think, and enjoy the quiet and beauty of nature. When the sun has gone, the bats and nightbirds (some of them feathered !) come out, and the stars are out in all their glory.
I let my mind drift down peaceful paths.
It does me good, apart from the Cigar.
In meditation you don't try to empty your mind of thoughts. You learn to observe them, to see thoughts and emotions as passing phenomena. I have since taken the evidence-based course in Mindfulness Meditation called Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction. I also began studying and practicing Qigong and Tai Chi (moving meditation). In the five years since I left, I am off all Rx drugs, and I sleep well. For me, insomnia, night terrors, flash backs and panic attacks are a thing of the past.
When you practice meditation you learn to drop out of automatic pilot. You come to understand that your thoughts and feelings are not who you are. They are not reality. They pass. When you learn to watch them pass, you become less reactive. You drop out of overthinking and doing mode and into being aware of your thinking and emotions without reactivity, and you learn that nothing is personal. It is a process and a practice..It takes time and commitment, and it is so worth every moment.
Tomorrow I am flying to San Francisco to begin a year-long mindfulness teacher training program. It is based on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy which has been clinically shown to prevent relapse of clinical depression by 50 percent. This particular program what developed at Oxford University.
You can read the book, Mindfulness, An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in A Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. You can also try some of the meditation practices here: http://franticworld.com/free-meditations-from-mindfulness/
If you are attuned to the natural world, as I and some of the other posters on this thread are, you might want to check out the book, Awake in the Wild, by Mark Coleman. He is one of my teachers, and I really love his work.
May you know peace,
Diane
