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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Hi, welcome back to
your Daily Mindfulness.
In today's session, I want to talk
about why we often distract ourselves.
Now, a lot of the distractions,
"distractions" that we have, which we
could just look at as various forms
of stimulation, don't really have
much to do with what's in our control.
I mean, there's just so much coming
at us on a daily basis that we're
just trying to navigate it all.
But a lot of times, we can use
different forms of stimulation and
what we could perceive as distraction
to cover up something for us,
something that we don't want to face.
And I think one of the reasons we
get addicted to distraction or we
intentionally distract ourselves
is that it helps us float above the
pain and confusion that lurks in
the shadowy depths of our being.
We all have this to some extent.
I mean, part of being human
is to try to make meaning in a
world that is very confusing.
And one of the ways we can avoid
looking at some of that confusion
or pain, maybe decisions we've made
from a long time ago that we regret
is to keep ourselves distracted.
This is why we can get addicted
to busyness or our work or
climbing the ladder of success.
It gives us a carrot to chase.
It gives us another rung of the
ladder to climb, some sort of goal
in the future that we can move toward
that keeps us active, that keeps
us busy, not having to be still.
And maybe you've experienced this,
but sometimes when you've stepped
out of that, busy-ness and drop into
the stillness, there's some painful
things there that have been waiting.
The thing is there's no amount
of floating about above our
pain that's going to resolve it.
And if you want to transcend so to
speak, you first need to descend.
You need to drop into and make
space for the experiences that
are there that are asking for
attention that we haven't addressed.
This doesn't mean you have to go into all
aspects of your psyche and everything that
you've, or, or dig for something that it's
like, okay, I want to find all my pain.
Right?
That's, unless you are really inspired
to do that, that's unnecessary.
This stuff will arise as you deepen
your own journey of growth and presence.
And so when it arises organically, that's
when we start to hold space for it.
And we look at it and we go, oh
wow, this is what's here now.
How do I want to relate to it and
help to heal and integrate it?
But a lot of times when that does
happen, it feels uncomfortable.
It feels more confusing.
And our way around it is just to bring
in more distractions, caffeinate and go,
give myself another goal to work toward.
And you can do that.
You could go another year, three
years, five years doing that, but it's
still lurking beneath the surface.
And this is why people can get
burnt out or exhausted in their work
because they're running, running,
running, trying not to feel something.
Now the cool thing is once you do drop
in and you make space in that's stillness
and you do start to do that deeper
healing work, well, then you can engage
with your life in a way that is inspired
and exciting and compassionate and, and
coming from the part of you that is most
aligned, rather than being driven by
fear of being still, rather than being
driven by a need to distract yourself.
So there is a light on
the other side of it.
And if we can take that orientation
to our healing work, it becomes
opportunities for excitement.
It's like, Ooh, there's a door there
that I can feel there's something
on the other side, but it requires
me walking through some discomfort.
But know that on the other side of
that discomfort is a whole new, a
whole new experience of opening and
depth that we get to touch into.
Of course, if there's some deep things
there, you want to have some support
and that's where therapists can come in.
But you are doing this work in a
big way through the meditations
here at Mindfulness.com.
So as always thank you for
your practice and let's settle
in for today's meditation.
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