Intentional Thursday: Meditation

Vegas Baby!

So, it's Thursday....

Since last Thursday, we have been working on being intentional about not judging! 

How did you do?

This allowing people and things to be, without judging, was very eye-opening for me. I realized that we will look at things and people and judge them, but we can redirect our thoughts, and we do not have to verbalize everything that comes to our minds.

I"m in Vegas right now, and the line for McDonald's at the airport was super long. I normally look and think "Why do people eat at McDonald's?" However, this time, I just looked at the long lines and instantly redirected my thoughts to something else. (Peace!)

There was a man at the pool in Vegas with his shirt off and his stomach was BIG. I looked at his stomach, wondered if he was with the slim lady next to him, and directed my thoughts to something else. (Peace!)

Being conscious of my thoughts really helped with not being judgmental. I was conscious when people would make comments about other people and things, and I tried my best to not co-sign. Now, no one that I was with said anything vicious about other people, but people would say things like "Why does she have that on?" and I would try my best to redirect the conversation or not add to the comments.

Please don't think that I did not fall off the wagon a few times this week; I did. But one thing for sure, I was conscious of falling off, and I know that being conscious means a whole lot.

Oh, what we can change when we are at least conscious!

Now, let's get to Meditation.

Meditating is very personal and there are so many ways to meditate. I was introduced to a form of mediating that is called mindfulness, and it really works for me. Mindfulness was explained to me like this: you are sitting beside a running stream of water, and the the running stream is your thoughts. You want to be conscious of the running stream, but you do not want to get in the stream. In other words, when my thoughts start to run out of control, I bring them back by focusing on my breathing. It's about having thoughts but not allowing them to overtake me. I normally will sit for about 15 minutes, set my timer on my phone, close my eyes, and be present with my thoughts. Doing this can become a habit, and we can be at peace with ourselves without our thoughts running us crazy. Thoughts are just that: thoughts! Also, I spend time thinking about what I am feeling because of my thoughts, and this has given me much needed insight into myself and peace.

This week while in Vegas, I listened to Joyce Meyers, television evangelist, and she was talking about having purposeful thoughts. From my understanding, Joyce advocates that God gives us enough grace for each day. She used the example of the people that Moses was leading to The Promised Land. God would give them manna from heaven every day, but if they tried to save some for the next day, it would spoil. God gave them new manna everyday. Joyce went on to say that the manna was grace, and that God gives us grace for each day.

So, Joyce proposes sitting everyday, and I would say for about 15 minutes or less, and purposefully determining our day by confessing something like: "I will trust God." "I am happy." "I will remain calm all day." "No weapon formed against me shall prosper." Pick one confession and say it over and over. Sounds awesome right?

The purpose of doing some type of mediating for the next week, and hopefully forever, is for us to experience being one with ourselves in peace. The results from meditating can become a part of who we are, and we can live our lives in a state of peace and not being controlled by our thoughts, which are just thoughts.

There is no one that I love to spend time with more than myself. But, it's not fun to be with me when I am not calm and peaceful. I know that mediation helps to calm us and helps us to enjoy being with ourselves.

Now, I have given you two suggestions of ways to mediate, and you can also research and do whatever form of meditation that works for you. However, let's intentionally be with ourselves in harmony and peace....

I can't wait to hear how this goes!

Happy Intentional Thursday, My People.....