We are born innocent without sin, without fear and without judgement. Feel that for a second………….pure being.
Sadly, as we mature the influence of others and our environment begin to distort our perfect world. We become flawed in the eyes of others and eventually we start to believe it ourselves. The conditioning begins.
Can you imagine having the ability not to give in, to the judgement of others, to not feel the need to fit in, to look, feel and act just like your peers? It is almost impossible, because even our family members are driven by the influence of others, from technology and the media. It begins with waking up and turning on the News, whats the weather, how do I dress, should we panic now because there is an accident on the highway leading to your work? The Static begins and can, quite frankly, set your pace for a day planned by others. Your home suddenly becomes invaded by Influence and you don’t even see it. Automatically you’re wondering, do you cancel your plans for this evening? You find yourself exhausted before your day even begins.
It seems to me, that as this world becomes more and more technology driven, we become desensitized, we lose our own sense of personal reasoning. We become unaware of what is truly real. Our reality is distorted, no longer natural, making it more and more difficult to balance what should be the simplest of things. Do we really know how to think or truly process how we feel? While we may think that we do, someone else could have a totally different opinion, of what is taking place in the world……. and in your personal life. With what seems like little effort, one person can change the world’s opinion of you and even worse, sometimes they have you questioning your own intentions.
We need to press the STOP button. We need to appreciate that each morning we wake up to another day of options. Options to succeed, options to make a difference……. we have the ability to make each day matter. We need to drown out the negative influences around us, and to do so we have to listen to our inner voice, the voice of truth. If you close your eyes for a whole minute, shut the environment out for just a minute, no noise, no distraction, don’t think or decide about anything until you open your eyes once again. That purity and innocence that we started out with is still there, its deep inside. I will call this an abbreviated form of meditation.
Do you remember as a child, perhaps covering your eyes, thinking you were hiding from someone? “They can’t see me” is what you think. Well, meditation is something like that. Because it is inside you……only you can see and feel it. You bring yourself to the truest part of you, the part without influence of others. You are allowed to feel and think only about you. Imagine that! While we can’t strip the world from negative influences we can decide to not be enticed by it. We can find a way to become true to ourselves and feel good about whatever it is that life will give us today. The first step I think, is becoming aware that you are being influenced. The second thing is to find a way that works for you to get in touch with your personal peace.
*I began to practice meditation a couple of years ago. It was awkward at first but what finally made it a little easier for me was a free 21 day on-line meditation series with Dr. Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey. It allowed me to go at my own pace. I signed up and confirmed on-line that I would be utilizing this free series. You can go on-line whenever convenient for you during the day or night and participate. Oprah opens the session with a few words then turns if over to Deepak, each day has its own theme. Deepak leads you into meditation, which last about 20 minutes in total. If you miss a day they give you 5 days to catch up. I appreciated that it was easy to follow and that it was truly at my own pace and discretion. They also give you an option to journal at the end of each day, which was rewarding on its own. While this was helpful for me it may not be your cup-of-tea. It truly is worth a try though and once you’ve given it some time, you decide. There are many ways to look up other options for meditation on-line, by Google or Amazon to name a couple.
My thought for today is that while we are constantly distracted by the influences of others, always know that the truth is within you. If you don’t feel something is right, close your eyes for a minute……..release the influences surrounding you and find your true belief. Your thoughts and actions belong to you! Only You! Have a blessed day. Beth