Wrong religion? Darn it.
It turns out that what I really want is not so much to confess my meanness as to receive absolution. J pointed this out to me last night. And it's true. I just want the guilty conscience to go away.
I need to go back to meditating. The thing is, it's hard for me to sit still for long enough to really have a meaningful experience. I think about Enos praying for a whole day and I just don't get it. What did he say for that long? Did he meditate for part of it? How did he fill the time?!
How do you all quiet your mind? How do you make yourself sit still? Or maybe you don't have to make yourself - you lucky dog. Still, I'm looking for strategies for meditation.
If you have any...you know where to find me. I'll be the one running in circles.
8 comments:
you are hereby absolved.
you're welcome.
Mmm, my favorite is a hot bath with a bath pillow and lots of fragrant bubbles, some soft music, and candles with the lights out. That is where I am the most relaxed and find I can just sit and not think about anything, just focus on nothing. Also, do you like laughing gas at the dentist? This is also another place where I am completely relaxed. Weird, but the drugs are so good. So sometimes I put on my eye mask, lay down, and breathe in and try to imagine myself sitting in the dentist chair with the laughing gas filling my lungs. It really does usually calm me down and relax me. Maybe you should just go visit your dentist and see if you can get a fix!
Xanax cures all. You won't even feel the need to meditate :-)
Lorazepam is goooooood. Quiets the mind right up. Little stars & chirping birds circling your head just like the old cartoons . . .
But yes, meditation. I did a lot of that. It would be hard to do Mormon style, with all the talking and gratitude and blessings and yada. But if you focus on your breathing, then use some visualizations, that will put you in a nice, calmer and more centered place. Don't forget to "nest" by making time & space for meditation.
Another way to quiet the mind is to focus on a meditative activity that uses up the self-consciousness we find so bothersome and distracting. Riding a motorcycle (alone out on the highway or even lane-splitting in LA). Whitewater rafting, running. I think AK finds knitting to be meditative. Maybe cooking? Cooking treats, that's very meditative. Cooking treats to share with the Hults', yeah, VERY mind-stilling. If you bring them over, we'll give you a Lorazepam :).
I thought lorazepam's trade name was Ativan. Or just plain Goodness.
I'm with you, Natalie. The problem is getting the darn stuff! (I've never tried Xanax, but I have a special place in my heart for the rest of the benzodiazepine family.)
(I swear that having an Rx for Ativan is more stressful than not — I have all sorts of anxiety about not being able to get a refill...)
Meds, meds, oh beautiful meds.
Aside from that, a nice long walk seems to help. Try not to walk in circles, though. :)
Hello, Miss Kitty. How have you been since our last visit? Oh? Well, you just lie down there on my comfy little couch and tell me all about it. There now. That wasn't so bad, was it? Now here's a prescription for a lifetime supply of absolution. Take as needed.
Drugs, hot baths, walks, motorcycle rides, therapy, Nicea. You guys are brilliant and the best! I better get going on these strategies.
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