Life can get busy, this we know. The currents of our lives seem to be an unending stream of this and that. Successes and failures. Work and more work.
Sure we can stay up, drink three cups of coffee today or complain to our friends about our abnormally normal expectation to never take a moment for ourselves but, what if I told you it didn’t have to be this way?
What if we did take a moment for ourselves. Not to stop our lives completely, not to dwell on our problems, but to be by ourselves for ourselves. Maybe on your way to work remember to release your shoulders from your head. Your ears don’t need company; they already are attached to your head. Unclench your jaw and look around. We usually think of meditation as keeping our hearts from feeling and our minds from thought with our eyes closed.
This is not the case! Any moment where you are present and look out at the world without judging is meditation! When you are in between classes and stop in front of the union to watch students pass by, just enjoying the moment — that’s meditation.
When you are in your room and just feel where you are at emotionally and mentally without attaching a label — if you are able to feel without the constriction of labeling whether or not you should be — that all is meditation. You are however you are. There is no such thing as should when it comes to being.
As this semester ramps up, you don’t have to do anything but to release tension and be. You don’t need to “know” something with buzzing words to understand something. Sure to communicate it, maybe.
Do you say “I am sad” when tears are rolling down your face? Do you say “I am angry” when you tense up and refuse to talk to a friend that has hurt you? No.
You already know these things without the mind. However, it may help to pay attention to those feelings when you feel them as well as the thoughts that hurt. Please don’t wave them away! Be present in them and know them because they are you.
When you are angry, you are anger. When you are sad you are sadness. Many times we do not realize this and treat people harshly. Because we haven’t taken the time to transform our anger or sadness into understanding. Active participation within our bodies, minds and emotions is meditation, and it can remind you that you don’t have to be so hard on yourself.
Thus, you are not so hard on others when it comes time to set boundaries and tie loose ends. If you have a moment, or minute try to take a deep breath and understand yourself through feeling and watching the world around you and in you. No, your shoulders don’t need to be by your ears. Shoulders have nothing to offer your head. That’s why they are always by your side, as they are there for support and stability.
