Things are getting deep today folks!
This week the @ecoTrain have initiated the 'meditation-challenge'. We are sharing our experiences and I am sharing my personal experiences and journal in these posts. I hope it helps to inspire you as it has me to try meditation out, because it seems to be Very interesting so far!
Day 4: Honoring My Intentions
It's one thing to make a promise in the moment whilst you are feeling inspired, and quite another to follow through! I promised myself not to do anything before i meditated this morning, and I woke up Very early at 05:30. This is quite unusual for me, in fact it never normally happens! I was wide awake and got up since i couldn't get back to sleep. I went downstairs and the main thoughts were about the cryptocurrency markets, again. I was REALLY curious what had happened overnight, and made an on the spot compromise with myself that I could look but not touch, which meant no trading, and no laptop.
It took me about an hour to feel ready to chant and meditate, and once I started I was glad I had continued with this, although a little disappointed that I had caved in to my promise since I could feel my mind was again preoccupied and very attached to this whole cryptocurrency drama. Nevertheless I did meditate through an extremely busy mind, and made it to the end of 15 minutes. This 15 minutes feels quite short to me because I spend spent about 30 minutes chanting before-hand. This chanting is proving to be a really important part of my meditation as it helps to set the tone and really take me out of my normal thinking state. I will post more about chanting soon ...I think I can feel another challenge coming on!
Day 5: Learning About The Importance Of Detachment
This morning again I woke up at 05:30! I think I can count on one hand the number of times that has happened in my entire life! This could be the result of my unconscious mind supporting me on this en-devour, or on the other hand it could just be that my stress levels and attachment to money are literally waking me up! Either way, I was wide awake this morning and enjoyed a coffee and again let myself check the markets out. It seems clear to me that my monkey mind will mess with me no matter what the circumstances! If the markets are up, I worry that they will drop, and if they drop I worry that they will not recover.
Therefore i decided to trick my monkey mind into total submission with a cunning plan! What i did was to sell about 10% of my portfolio into Dollars yesterday, whilst things could still go either way. The reason for this is that now if the markets go down I can buy some back at a better price, and if they go up then I am happy anyways. Now I'm happy whatever happens and can let go of some of my stress, right? Probably not for long to be honest! The point here is that I am playing games with myself to try to overcome my own attachments. This is the key I have learned today and it is SO important. My attachments to money, and so many things are getting in the way of my ability to mediate and inner peace. I have allowed myself to distract myself before meditation for 4 days now, and today I declare that enough is enough! I have just realised that meditation gives us a way to detach from our desires, our problems and our fears. If i wake up and start meditating before I do anything else then I know i will be MUCH less preoccupied with thinking and my attachments to things. I get it now, and just realized one of the main goals of meditation and a happy life.
Detachment is something that I have learned a lot about whilst being in Ashram's and from life's experiences. It is connected to equanimity, which is a word we don't hear very often and yet can deliver real bliss. Equanimity is a state of being when we are not moved by our situation or experiences. We are able to stay centered and grounded without any fear or concern, or hope and desires because when we are here in the moment we have all that we really need. Having expectations, desires, hopes and dreams can keep us distracted and oblivious to the real jewels of life that are ready for picking right here and right now. We just have to learn to let go of our attachments, and meditation is a big part of that process.
SO, tomorrow I pledge to meditate before I do anything and see if that helps to quieten my monkey mind. I want to mention that I am not in conflict with my monkey mind right now. I don't feel like, oh shit i cant do it.. because as I said at the beginning that is not the goal or desire.
We are dedicating a small amount of time to witness where we are at, and give some space for whatever needs to happen to happen.
Balancing Our Hopes And Desires With Detachment Can Be A Hard Line To Find, And Is Only Really Possible With Surrender.
This final step of surrender is all we need to achieve detachment, equanimity and inner peace.. Surrender is also something that is not very well understood and I will be writing about that in my Path To Enlightenment series. Someone who is truly surrendered has great faith and conviction that:
Everything Is Perfectly Perfect Just As It Is
To be truly surrendered is a rare and holy state of being and is probably the fastest and easiest route to enlightenment. It means that we dedicate all our actions to God, and make ourselves an instrument for Divine Will to play-out through us. We are no longer responsible or attached to the details of our lives, and no longer judge the things that happen because we have dedicated our actions to God.
Someone Who Is Truly Surrendered Has Transcended Karma, And Has Found The Exit Door To The Game Of Life.
Karma is not what happens to you! This is a great misconception. How can you say that someone who was in prison for 10 years has bad Karma, if during that time they learned to meditate and found enlightenment?! The point is that Karma is not what happens to you, but how you choose to react to what happens to you. If you are surrendered and dedicate all actions to God, you are no longer a part of the game of right and wrong. This doesn't mean that people who are surrendered never get excited or joyful, but that the things they find joy in are quite different and not concerned with self.
If you would like to check this series out please see the links below. There are some great posts here that have not been spotted ;-)
The Path To Enlightenment Series
Initiation 1: What Is The Greatest Conspiracy Theory?
Initiation 2: The meaning of life and why are we really here! A Story of Enlightenment Trading Ethereum
Initiation 3: The Path To Enlightenment, Knowing Synchronicity
Initiation 4: The Path To Enlightenment, Who am I?
Initiation 5: The Path To Enlightenment, Put Apart The I
Initiation 6: The Path To Enlightenment, Why we need personal boundaries and how to create healthy ones
Will You Join Us For The Meditation Challenge?
Anyone who already meditates on a regular basis can testify to the powerful and wide range of effects and benefits that they get from it. These days meditation is starting to gain traction in mainstream media, and we are seeing meditation being taught in schools, even in Europe and USA. Many of us make important decisions every day whilst leading stressful lives. It is often when we are feeling fearful or under stress that we make bad decisions, and are unproductive and inefficient.
What better challenge could we have here on Steemit than a meditation challenge!? This challenge is for everyone, whether you have never meditated before, or you used to meditate but haven't in a while, or even if you do meditate regularly. I hope you will join us in this opportunity to make your day and the world even better!
Are you ready for the details! !?
Click the link below for more information and how to join us
https://steemit.com/meditation-challenge/@eco-alex/7-day-meditation-challenge-everyone-wants-to-meditate-but-no-one-actually-does-it-join-us-today
Thanks for being here with me and the @ecoTrain!
We are a small community that support each other because we love what we write.
check our our ecoTrain magazine at @ecotrain
The path to enlightenment is a long and winding road for sure. I have never ventured as deep as you’re going into the spiritual realm, but it has crossed my mind many times. It’s amazing that you are kind of detaching yourself completely to get in touch with your inner being and afterwards coming to this virtual network and plugging yourself back in.
Crypto has be on my brain for the last several months, engulfing most of my thoughts haha, here is a great meme I found the other day that sums it up well.
we all go at our own pace! i mean, whats the rush?! we waited a million years to be here!
Sounds like we have had similar engulfing experiences with crypto..
i definately recommend trying meditation out for many reasons.. and surviving crypto is one of them!
Love that meme! lolll
I've tried finding reasons to meditate in the past and at the beginning it seemed as a key to live balanced life, but somehow I wasn't hooked at the level to start practicing and advancing. Now, about 20 years later, I have the feeling that somehow I took the right decision for me.
Because I believe, that... in a nutshell... entering one door closes our opportunity for a long period of time to open another door. I feel somehow thankful that I allowed myself to knock on other doors and guess what - I received a reply!
everything is perfectly perfect just as it is!!! ;-)
Very true, slow and steady, no need to rush
hahhahahahahahaahahahaha that picture man :D
Pretty good right? and so accurate
Great post @eco-Alex! I love to hear of your process, it’s always interesting! I find myself playing games with myself too and making little future treats for myself! I’ve been suffering from some monkey mind too especially since I had coffee and read some articles before I meditated this morning lol! No more coffee beforehand!
I find sometimes I suffer from incoming inspiration too! One of the ways my mind finds to escape is by giving me ideas I think are good that I then fixate on.
You are spot on that the ultimate is to surrender. I find for me this challenge is a lot about letting go of control. I’ll try to write a post about it tomorrow and get some of my thoughts down.
Thanks for the inspiration!! Xo
THANK You !
and YEs letting go of control.. yes yes,,.. thank you for reminding me! I literally was shouting at myself to let go this morning whilst i played a bhajan because my mind was just taking over the whole xperience! Just let go already !monkey mind!
This really is the path to enlightenment. I shall read the others in your series because you're onto something deep and profound here. The way you write is honest and engaging too.
I am also finding this meditation practice much more powerful than I expected. I think your waking up early has more to do with the meditation than with stress. This practice seems to reconfigure consciousness very quickly in some deep ways. I find that I keep coming back to the present whenever my mind wanders too far into the future.
thanks gideon, and im SO happy you are doing this..
i cant wait to read
U HAVE to try the chanting challenge next week .. really you may be astounded at the immediate results! (i know i am)
yeah check out the path to enlightenment! its not every day we can find this kind of writings!
Alex, my meditations are a hybrid of a hybrid. Typically, I start with forced-oxygen breathing. Then, I drift into my quiet space and just be. We already have a great elan within us. I just look to appreciate it. I skip all the artificiality and enjoy being... alive and the ability to think and act.
lovely! that sounds like you are doing pranayama, which can be quite enlivening! if you can just be, then that is a blessing!
love this challenge! I'm a huge meditation advocate. It has literally changed my health, my relationships, and most of all how I think. What a great post. I'm definitely checking out your other posts. Got a new follower :)
thanks for sharing your testimony! I am starting to really understand what you say even after just 5 days... its not just about one thing, it really changes Everything from the ground up.. I can already write a long list.. which i probably will in my next post =)
please do feel free to support this initiative by writing about your experiences with meditation on the #meditation-challenge tag..
ommmmmm
oh i definitely will use the tag! I love the idea of writing a bit each day about what kind of download you got from meditation that day.
Synchronicity is funny/amazing this way - stumbled onto your page through that header tutorial and found the meditation challenge! I wrote a pretty lengthy post on my personal meditation journey just a few days ago. Feel free to check it out - if you want :)
https://steemit.com/meditation/@amariespeaks/curiosity-didn-t-kill-the-cat-it-s-meditating-an-article-on-meditation-and-migraines
Great! I will look out for it ! thanks for being a part of the change ;-) <3
This is so great! You got the great point here......
wow...this amazing pic my dear friend @eco-alex
_____________________________ I always upvote and comment on your post, to tell the truth, I like your post, you can write a lot of good, I like all of your posts, thank you for this post, I'm waiting for you to post when you (because I Love you)@alimuddin
thank you for such a lovely comment!
thank you @eco-alex for To support me,,,
Amazing post . Thanks for sharing us
@Upvoted
What a magnificent post, just amazing post :)
Keep it up
nice post thanks...
I hear you. I experience similar issues nowadays, since I joined steemit, of getting easily distracted and being a bit flaky with my practice. The mind is just so curious and wants to know what are the latest comments and replies. OMG! This is indeed a challenge to stay focused and present with what I know is important for my soul - meditation, my sacred practice. I skipped meditation yesterday and I need to get back into it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I feel we have a lot in common and that doesn't surprise me ;) keep up the good work, Alex!
yes Bristena! the first month or two on Steemit can be a whirlwind! defiantly keep meditating as a priority before you are never able to stop commenting again! ;+)
Detachment is so hard relay, especially when one thinks that he is detaching from something that seems to be positive, only to find out it wasn't after letting go <3
i agree, detachment is extremely challenging.. it looks to me like meditation is a great tool and step toward this goal.. right now ive been awake for three hours and am not concerned about the markets, nor am i worrying about it at all today!;-)
Sneaky Ninja Attack! You have been defended with a 18.63% vote... I was summoned by @eco-alex! I have done their bidding and now I will vanish...Whoosh
Great post @eco-alex ! I upvoted. If you are interested in this topic, I have similar material about mantras - https://steemit.com/esoterics/@adeptus/all-about-the-tibetan-mantras
Perfect for meditation.
thanks for sharing this, ill have a peruse! Next week we launch the Get Your Chant on Challenge.. U might like to join us! ;-)
Thank you for the invitation! It is interesting!
This is a really brilliant initiative @eco-alex. There's nothing like helping people to become more present. I love how the blockchain can hold us accountable, and there is no going back to deny where we faltered.
Meditation is definitely a worthwhile investment. Every moment I give to a more awakened state I find to be extremely beneficial. Thanks for bringing me this way and letting me into the world of ecotrain to see the connections and beauty happening here. I love this post!
this does seem to a Very worthwhile challenge.. so far quite a few of us are engaging and i keep challenging people to join in and they keep saying Yes! ;-) My dream is for this to go Viral and Loads of Steemians start meditating and learning the many benefits that there are.. We can but dream!
Glad ur having a poke around! There's all sorts of amazing posts & people on ecoTrain,, which is why i haven't been getting out much lately!
Have a beautiful Sunday @everlove !