SuperListenMode 265: Mindfulness…slowing down to Breathe Deeply
SuperListenMode: Mindfulness…slowing down to Breathe Deeply
Things are not as terrible or excellent as you assume to be.
You are here now.
Alive and present with your surroundings.
You are alive and well.
Feel the air flow through your body.
You breathe in deeply. You slowly breathe out.
Allow your soul to be free, warm and loved.
Mind open, body flowing free and heart calm. ♥
Thoughts on mindfulness meditation:
I did this comic & post ages ago and I have been trying to practice. It’s one of the things I’m doing, as I learn and struggle to get better at taking care of myself.
Trying to find ways to switch off, wind down in between things to calm myself down from the stress and tension…as my mental and physical health has been suffering. It’s been a relatively bad year.
Allowing myself to heal from burn out, tension, sensory overload, physical soreness/pain & other symptoms I won’t go into, several years of stress & absorbing/mirroring others’ to pretend to act “normal”/receptive/sociable when with most people. Allowing myself to relax and wind down is super hard for me because thanks to my lifetime of intense and lazy habits, I’m terrible at it.
There’s another approach to meditation that involves affirmations but it’s not for me. It’s too much telling myself what I “should” be feeling, putting up expectations upon myself and too much to work towards and remember for my liking – whether I actually believe it or not. I don’t believe in myself completely and I’m lost and confused. And that’s okay. I’ll keep pushing through anyway.
I’m tired of faking confidence, fighting against my own lack of self esteem and creating another persona for myself. I don’t want to stress about all that. And it’s not helping me relax either. I’d rather slowly build my confidence through my actions and work. I still have a lot of learning and growing up to do in life, friendships and self love.
For mindfulness – I appreciate just keeping it simple and focusing on breathing and the present. At lot of discipline is involved to keep doing it properly too! And making sure you’re alone and that it’s quiet – at times I forget to do it! Especially on weekends when I don’t have a super structured routine anymore to stick to. I end up going with the flow.
Since early this year, I started doing [introvert, quiet, meditative, solitary, recovery] power nap breaks during restroom breaks [as part of my lunch break], a breathing meditative moment after an exercise session, partially when I’m taking walks [where I zone out] and when I relax and nap on train rides :’)
It’s easy for me to fall asleep when I’m exhausted being outside, being around people and doing work. I really need these recovery breaks between things, let go of the tension and become a Leonie blob in order to feel functional! So I guess I’m already doing lots of meditation unknowingly! Just not in ideal, quiet, solitary, focused conditions. Trying to rectify with another dedicated session before bed. It’s not working too well though. At the moment, sleep is the only time I can 100% relax. :’)
But once I start, I can just zone out in solitude, float around with my thoughts, let go of any expectations, allow my body to relax, keep returning back to my breathing, be present and kind with myself. <3