Meditation is Self-Care: 3 Ways to Improve Your Meditation Practice
Meditation is one of the best ways I know to deepen your intuition, reduce medical and psychiatric symptoms, and quiet your anxieties,
Three props to improve your meditation practice:
Create a quiet, soothing meditation area. This is, for me, basic.
A bell or chime to open your meditation session is important.
Take a few deep breaths and clear your mind.
Using a timer to let you know that your session is coming to an end is helpful. This timer can a quiet tone or beads which you hold in your hands.
Through the years, I’ve posted meditation articles on this blog. (Find them in the search section).
I’ve also recommended several books:
My favorites are three meditation books written by Larry Moen. They are:
Meditations for Awakening
Meditations for Transformation
Meditations for Healing
Today, in this article, I share a new meditation which I’m calling “A Perfect Place”. In this meditation, you create your own perfect place.
Begin with a few deep breaths to clear your mind.
Wait a moment and then imagine yourself in a perfect place, designed just for you. Look around and ask yourself:
What is around you? Are you inside or outside?
Do you see buildings, mountains, roadways, lakes, streams?
Or, do you see a room with a chair waiting for you? Do you see a meeting hall?
What is the weather like outside? Is it snowing, raining, Or is the sun shining?
Do you see people? Are they beside you? Are they smiling or looking away?
Who are these people? How many are they? What are they doing? Is someone coming over to join you?
Are there any animals? Are they pets? Are they wild animals? How are you connected to them?
What are you doing now? Are you walking along a path? Are you sitting on a bench? Are you in a seat in a theater? Are you alone or with others – humans or animals?
Is this place familiar to you? Do you feel you have ever been here before? Is this space somewhere you have visited in the past? Have you dreamed about it?
How do you feel in this space?
What are you wearing?
Sit for a few moments and let yourself become adjusted to your surroundings. Breathe in the perfect air. Enjoy this perfect place.
You may want to make some notes – or draw a quick sketch even.
Now, check in with yourself – your thoughts, your feelings. What is happening with your inner self?
Now, take one long, last look around. This is your place. It will always be yours. You know that you may return here any time you want.
After a short time, you know it is time to return to your space before your meditation.
You can return to this meditation whenever you want.
Now, take another deep breath and return. Open your eyes gently and slowly and gently move and stretch.
Thank you for participating in this meditation. If it is appropriate, please share it with friends and family. Forward it to your preferred social media network.
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This book is available at www.thurmangreco.com.
Thank you for reading this article. Thanks for sharing this article.
Thurman Greco
What is Hope?
Hope is a feeling. It is also a skill.
Hope is honest. You can pretend to be happy but it’s pretty much impossible to pretend to have Hope.
Hope can be learned. How do you do this? Practice being Hopeful. Your first step is to make space in your life for Hope. This is also a good strategy for boosting your sense of well-being.
You don’t have to be positive to learn about Hope. I learned about Hope recently when I experienced some dark days. In the midst of these negative and painful feelings I discovered I felt Hopeful.
Hope just popped up and said “hi”.
When this happened, I felt I suddenly weighed several pounds less. I felt like I could smile even.
I think this happened because I refused to gloss things over. I decided I could try to change my situation. I felt strong enough to cope with the eventual outcome.
I was ready to try, anyway.
I wanted to do everything possible I could to make things better.
I was finally willing to even ask others for help.
I realized I needed to sleep and rest each day. For me, sleep and rest are holy.
One thing I was not ready to do was give up.
Once I dug my heels in, I felt inspired. I was through just sitting on the sidelines watching things go in the wrong direction.
Suddenly, Hope boosted me to take action! It was time to make things happen. Perfection was not in my situation but momentum and Hope were.
I soon learned that Hope covers many ills. I began to see what could happen because I had faith in things moving in the right direction.
Hope taught me, once again, that with a belief in the strength of a higher power and a faith in the universe, things can’t go wrong. I stumbled onto the wisdom of universally higher power.
We can all tap into universal wisdom. All we have to do is see it for what it is.
Sometimes, with Hope we have to reach out to others for help, answers, and direction.
I did this. I reached out to those around me. I didn’t stop with just one or two people. I asked everyone I could find for help, inspiration. I heated up the phone (and email) lines, as my grandmother would have said.
The result was not necessarily what I envisioned. It was, however, far better than what I saw as a good outcome. A lot of my reaching out resulted in “no” or “not now” or “I don’t know”. Even these negatives were encouraging.
All it took was Hope..
I knew what I needed to do was “go it alone”. I arrived at the TV studio with a basket from Karen filled with donations to put on the altar: stones, feathers, a singing bowl, an alter cloth, herbs, fruit, empty bottles, bread, rocks.
The first presentation of HOPE on the Road went out on Channel 23 this week. Ellen knew how to arrange the altar pieces.
You’ll find HOPE on the Road on YOUTUBE in early September.
Because I reached out to others, the outcome was beautiful.
Will you participate in HOPE on the Road?
Do you practice Reiki? Can you host your own HOPE on the Road?
You don’t practice Reiki?. That’s not a problem. Invite a Reiki practitioner to facilitate a HOPE on the Road presentation for you. Encourage people to enjoy your HOPE on the Road event.
A HOPE on the Road event includes a guided meditation opening followed by a group Reiki session. A hand blessing closes the experience. A HOPE on the Road event only takes an hour.
The Reiki practitioner is a vital link between a person experiencing a challenge and appropriate support.
Does that not seem right for you? Give me a call. Send me an email. I’m ready, willing, and able.
I’ll offer HOPE on the Road through Zoom or on the porch of a building, or in a garden somewhere. I can work with social distancing.
Don’t overlook your neighborhood library.
The important thing is that we share HOPE on the road.
What we all need now is HOPE.
Thank you for reading this blog article. Please forward this post to your preferred social media network.
Share it with your friends.
Thanks for joining HOPE on the Road!
Thurman Greco
