• Be a Child

    • March 30, 2010 8:55 am

    Dearest Readers,

    This morning, during meditation practice, I visualized the idea of living until I was 130 years old. For a gal who once thought she wouldn’t make it past 17, this is rather amusing.

    The image came to me as a way of seeing myself still in the early stages of my spiritual evolution. I needed to do this because yesterday I put my foot in my mouth and am feeling the painful effects of having done so. Imagining that I am only 30-something years into my actual human journey gave me great reassurance.

    To put one’s foot in one’s mouth means (according WikiAnswers) “you said something you shouldn’t have said in a certain situation.” Yup. That pretty much sums it up.

    Actually, I sort of think what I said was okay but how I said it was not. I could have been kinder. I could have been more compassionate. So I feel bad. I feel remorseful. I feel imperfect.

    For a recovering perfectionist feeling imperfect is the perfect growth opportunity. It feels like crap but its exactly what we need to do. Not perfect yet, Celia. Never will be. Enjoy!

    Transitioning from crap to enjoyment is a tricky business. This is really where the need was coming from to project almost 90 years into the future on the cushion. It was a way of accepting that I still have a great deal of work to do and that it’s okay. I’m just at the beginning!

    Inspiring Message of the Day: Sometimes it’s tempting to think I’ve learned everything I need to know. But how arrogant is that? Today I will open myself up to the idea that I am still a teachable child with a long road of learning ahead of me.

    The Present

    • February 8, 2010 9:47 am

    Dearest Readers,

    As the love and support continues to pour in for who I am and what I do I am truly humbled by the kindness and generosity so many of you have shown me. Thank you for being on my team.

    Now a word (or two) on meditation…

    Just over ten years ago I was looking after a couple of kids while their parents were away. Their mother had a yoga practice and although I had a knowledge of yoga and had been taught some of the asanas, I did not have a practice, let alone a devoted one. This particular mama had yoga video tapes and one morning while the kids were in school I put one on and followed it.

    At the end of the practice it came time for savasana. As you may or may not know, savasana, AKA the Corpse Pose, is often the last posture to be taken in a class. It’s the resting and restorative pose that allows our bodies to integrate and feel the benefits of the entire practice in which we’ve just engaged.

    Lemme tell ya somethin’, folks. Ten years ago, I could not relax enough to lie in this posture for ten minutes. I kept sitting up to see if I’d missed the end of it somehow. No joke. I’m lying on the mat going, “Come on! Are you serious?” and then I’d peek up at the tape again. At the time, those ten minutes felt like an eternity. I had zero patience.

    Meditation is the art of being present. People think meditation means you have to clear your mind of everything and be some kind of a supreme being. No. It is the simple practice of being in your life as it is happening.

    Yesterday I spent 12 hours in a studio working with a multimedia artist on our video for the Big O Project. Most of the time he was working on the computer and I was waiting for him to show me something. For twelve hours I was able to sit there and be present in my life as it was happening.

    For a gal who could not lie down and be still for ten minutes this is a miracle.

    I attribute this miracle to meditation. Learning how to sit still and breathe and observe my thoughts. It began by lying on a mat, sitting in a chair, doing NO thing.

    As I developed an ability to do this much I carried the practice into my daily life. Being on the bus, tying my laces, doing the dishes, etc. Through the practice of meditation I’ve learned how to be present in my life as it is happening.

    Impatience still comes up. I still look for distractions. I still avoid the stillness sometimes, not wanting to go there, not wanting to find out what I need to hear or feel. But meditation has changed my life for the better. It has landed me in my life, in my body, in this Celia skin, where I have learned to really love myself and others.

    Inspiring Message of the Day: I will practice meditation in all its varying forms. Lying down, sitting, breathing is just the beginning. I will practice landing in my life and being present to who I am and what I do.

    Meditate on This

    • December 2, 2009 10:19 am

    Dearest Readers,

    Just over a year ago I joined Toastmasters in order to hone my skills as a professional speaker. At the meeting this morning our theme was “Meditation” and it got me thinking about my own practice.

    There are all kinds of ways to meditate. Meditation does not necessarily mean sitting cross-legged on a cushion with eyes closed and index finger and thumb gently touching in chin mudra. One can meditate upon a passage of words, or while walking in the woods, or standing in line at the post office.

    Meditating is really the practice of focusing deeply, whether it’s on your breath, a piece of text, the forest sounds or the man’s bald pate in front of you. When we meditate we are seeking the experience of being present in the here and now.

    Many people say, “I can’t meditate. My mind is too busy!” This is the point of meditation. To practice quieting the thinking mind. The nature of the mind is to think. Even great yogis have a mind that thinks thoughts all the time. With meditation, we are learning to let go of thinking and experience being.

    I know people who meditate for hours. This is not me. I once heard Goldie Hawn (of all people) say she meditated for five minutes a day and I thought, “I can do that.”

    Each morning upon waking and each evening before getting into bed I sit on a cushion and close my eyes and breathe, quieting the mind to the best of my ability. Sometimes I am there for five minutes, other times longer. But knowing I only have to be there for five minutes is what gets me to do it.

    Whenever I feel resistance or just too tired, I say, “It’s five minutes, Celia.” This makes it do-able. It makes it easy. I can’t argue with five minutes.

    So I sit and my mind races and it doesn’t. I am thinking the whole time or I’m not. I’m absolutely present or I’m miles away. It’s never the same. But it’s all beneficial.

    Committing to the practice has changed me for the better. Those five minutes have taught me to bring that kind of deep focus into my being at many different times during the day. It’s like a switch I can turn on anywhere, anytime.

    Like the new saying goes, “Practice makes progress.”

    Inspiring Message of the Day: The five-minute rule is a fantastic tool for motivating me to do the thing I think I cannot do. Regarding meditation, committing to just five minutes of quiet time a day improves my quality of life.