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What have you found to be an essential part of your daily practice and what can you share with others about how to sustain a daily practice?
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Posted on May 12th, 2009 by David
Filed under: Flash movies
Every night before bed I spend ten minutes stretching and meditating. It calms me and helps me to have a restful night’s sleep so I am ready to put in a full day of fire-fighting at the office the next day without getting too stressed out. I tried longer meditation session but they just don’t work for me. Ten minutes each day–That I can do.
I write down everything I’m concerned with or need to do – then I can clear my head for the night, enjoy something light on television, and get ready to sleep.
I write down three things that I am grateful each day.
And I also don’t let a day go by without laughter.
“The most wasted of days is a day without laughter. ”
e.e. cummings
A friend years ago gave me some excellent advice. “Wait three days,” he counseled. In other words, don’t panic or give in to depression: Wait three days and the situation won’t seem nearly as daunting. And another friend reminded me to “forgive yourself”: We all make mistakes — it doesn’t make us bad people.
What helps me in my daily routine is to remember that I am not the one who orders or regulates the universe, that my options are limited. Yet in spite of this there are things I can do (and often need to do) and when I listen, it inevitably comes clear as to what that is. This connects me with both the larger picture and also the here and now. The key of course is to follow through in the midst of other voices.
Trauma film clip was an unrelenting downer. Tone of narration? It was sort of “‘Entre nous,’ life has already gone down the tubes, don’t you agree?” The always wonderful New Yorker cartoons weren’t enough to lighten it up.
To alleviate stress:
Laughter is essential.
Keep breathing, focus on your breath in and out and on the pause between breaths. Simply noticing your breathing for a while releases stress.
Meditative movement: Yoga, Tai Chi, Chi gung, Gyrokinesis
Listen to music that gives you joy.
I like to take a few moments each day just to watch people, either on the bus or on the street, or even at the grocery store. When I’m feeling stressed out or overwhelmed, I find that it helps to keep in mind that you are just ONE person, one of many, and that everyone is really doing the best that they can. I’ve also found myself surprised and humbled to witness the unexpected kindness and humanity of absolute strangers.
My grandfather would always say “sleep on it.” Sometimes you can’t deal with life until you have the perspective of the next morning and that’s okay in most situations.
I agree with Ann C – “sleep on it” is a good way to go if you don’t have to respond until the next day. Another approach to this is “take a deep breath” and pause before answering or hitting the email send key, so something does not come out of my mouth or is sent by email that I later regret. A former boss said the way he relieved stress is to write his emotional email but instead of sending it to the person who was making him mad, he just sent it to himself. When he read it a day later, he just laughed and deleted it, as both time and the act of sending it to himself had healed his wounded soul.
Staying focused on my breath as much as i can is a real life saver for me. I have also gotten a lot of inspiration from viewing WordsOfPeace.org.
When I make time, little prayers (based in the Jewish tradition) morning and night really help. Thanks in the morning, Forgiveness just before bed.
Laura, unsolicited two cents: You should be the focus/narrator of that video, documentary-style, just tellin your beautiful truth. People that help people need help or the whole thing breaks. The cartoons are cute, the voice-over is weird.
Love!
Oh yea, and breath. Three deep, conscious breaths at any moment can stop many bad trains.