Hello all. Sorry, I've been slack again.
I've been anxious (which you may know). This may be because of the warming weather and the bright sun. Summer-SAD, perhaps. But whatever brings it on, it's not really pleasant and it's not really conducive to a happy life. Or a productive one. I sleep poorly enough as it is.
With this extra, radiating nervous energy, and with this horrible anxious, unbalanced feeling, I'm thinking it's time to get really seriously back into meditation. Maybe part of the reason I'm feeling what I'm feeling is "the universe" trying to kick me in the arse again.
So I'm going to get serious this time. No more messing around. Every day, even when I'm tired, I'm going to sit and meditate.
I'm going to start with grounding exercises, because I want to try to transmute some of this unpleasant nervous energy into cool, stable energy. But when I start to think about a daily practice, I always want to cast around for different ideas. One of the things I find very interesting is the way people ritualise things: what do people do when preparing for meditation? Do people do it in magic circles, before altars or shrines, outside, on a particular seat or stool? Do people light candles or incense? Do people listen to music? Do people make particular movements, prayers, affirmations before they begin? All this stuff interests me, and if you have any ideas on Pagan or witchcraft-themed websites that have a nice store of this sort of thing (or indeed if you have a particular meditation "ritual" you would like to share) do post a comment. Any meditation plans or courses you've done and enjoyed would be interesting, too - I may not do them,
You'll have to wish me luck, as I'm notoriously bad at doing things like remembering to meditate regularly. You know, I've been very slack at my daily prayers lately, also. That may be a part of why I'm so out of kilter of late. Taking time in front of my altar every night does give me a sense of inner calm and stability.
I think I'll keep a bit of a log of how I've been doing on my tumblr. (Cor lummy, I've just realised I've changed the URL and old links on this blog will be dead. Oh, well.) So I'll let you know of anything interesting I find from day to day on there, and I'll post larger updates here every once in a while. I think doing that will help me keep at it, as well as give me a record to look back on. Besides, I think sometimes other people are interested in that sort of thing. And it lends a greater sense of structure to the exercise. I've talked about how I sometimes long for structure before. I don't really feel like that now, but I suspect it is something I need about now.
So. If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to find something to meditate over. I'm thinking apples. I don't know why.
I usually light some candles, occasionally burn incense, and play some kind of ambient music. The music is honestly to block out the sounds of other people in the apartments and other various noises around me otherwise I actually rather like completely silence. Every once in a while I will open Circle for a session.
ReplyDeleteI've seen and practiced some meditations I've read about before and even liked a few. However, for me it's one of those things that really just depends on the situation, or what's currently happening in my life at the time that'll decide how I'll really go about it all. Another area I tend to just go with the flow of, but, I have come up a few grounding visualizations/techniques if those would be something you'd be interested in reading in. Even if for nothing more than curiosity sake. Not sure if it'd all fit in a comment on here though to tell you the truth. You know how I can get wordy haha.