This little book will help you to calm your mind throughout the day, and during those stressful mind-farts at night.
There is no doubt about the fact that aging is stressful, and developing the tools to deal with it, such as meditation, and a good network of friends and family, can transform a living hell into a delightful life.
This really is a great fence, which will keep out deer and rabbits (and dogs), so we can enjoy my new vegetable garden. Just more expensive then I expected; quality (cedar) costs money!).
When I discovered meditation, years ago, I realized that I could calm my mind when needed, with some training. The greater the stress level (which is all in the mind, really), the tougher it is to silence the chatter and enjoy the moment. Meditation resembles endurance training, in that you have to slowly build up your tolerance, and mental strength. In fact, meditation helps endurance training, and vice versa.
Last night I awoke, still tired, at 12:30 am, with my mind spinning around on the issue of money. Boy, that is something that everyone faces. However, my situation is under control, except the work on my vegetable garden is costing a little more than I expected. So, how to silence my mind, and return to a state of relaxation? Took me about 10 minutes to settle. The process involves quietly sitting, watching the mind, and seeking that quiet place, where I’ve been many times before.
It is just a place of quiet, calm and happiness, and as soon as I found it, within minutes I was sleepy again. I went back to bed, fell fast asleep, having silenced the demons of useless worry. I awoke refreshed at about 6:00 am., which is late for me.
Sure am glad I read The One Minute Meditator years ago, and did the work, with the help of a number of other books.
I must admit that I never enjoyed meditation classes in a group. Just didn’t work for me.
Relax my friends!
PS Gardening is another way to calm the mind. Think I’ll go and broadcast my mixed seeds for my winter garden, as my great crew (more about them later) finish the fence to keep out the deer. Yes, it is a really nice fence, that will allow many years of enjoyable, deer and rabbit-free gardening.
Oh! Yes! I need to buy some marigold seeds and Bacillus thuringensis.
Nice. I love to dig in the warm earth. Time for me to clean up the summer garden, do some rearranging of plants, and spread bags of rich manure and the dirt from the compost pile on the beds. Then bring on the winter rains to do the work of enriching the soil for me. I find just writing down the mental chattering – getting it out of the brain – helps me when those worries hit. Meditation as you mentioned also good.
Sometimes I write a list of things to be done, and that helps, too. I’m pretty excited to have another vegetable garden.