Did you miss the previous post about my book launch? If so, you can Click Here to read it.
Please join me this week as I post excerpts of my new book on meditation. The posts will culminate on the final book launch date...Sunday, June 25th. I hope you enjoy the remainder of Chapter One. If you missed the first portion of the chapter please click the link ^ above ^ to read it.
Each chapter of this book has a section entitled Putting It Into Practice that gives you practical prompts on how to apply what you’ve learned in each chapter to your personal life.
Chapter One (continued)
Before I found meditation, negative self talk looped in my head almost constantly. By continually thinking negative internal thoughts and comparing ourselves to others, many of us fall into a rut of sabotaging the quality our own life experience.
“I’m not smart enough”, “I’m not as good looking or successful as they are”, “This certain person doesn’t like me”, “This idea will never work.” Sound familiar?
Marianne Williamson said, ”Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”
This quote is important because I’ve come to realize that subconsciously most of us know exactly how powerful we are and it terrifies us. Why? If we admit that we have the power to transform ourselves and accomplish anything in life it’s impossible to blame anyone or anything else for our own unhappiness. Think about this for a moment.
Most of us have heard of the word, “institutionalized” and know its meaning but few of us realize that we have become institutionalized ourselves. Nothing illustrates this concept better than my favorite film, “A Shawshank Redemption.”
As unbelievable as it seems, it is common for prisoners who have been incarcerated for decades, when released, to find themselves unable to deal with freedom. Freedom terrifies them. Some even end up breaking the law to get back into prison. These people, who at first grieve because their freedom has been taken from them, strangely begin to find security and comfort behind the bars that keep them in bondage.
The same phenomena occurs in our daily lives. When we’re young, most of us have clear dreams and aspirations but if we’re not mindful, as the ocean erodes the sand, the routines of life slowly wear our dreams away. After a few years our dreams are pushed back into the farthest corners of our minds and are likely labeled as naive illusions.
As our daily routines literally become etched onto our brains, even though we may be miserably unhappy in our lives, we lose our ability to even imagine a different way of living. We become so dependent upon the routine itself that we forget that other options that would make us far happier exist and are just a decision away!
As you will experience, meditation is many wonderful things but first and foremost it is a process of relearning who we really are and unleashing the awesome power that each and every one of us possess. We are like sleeping giants that merely have to be awakened.
PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE
Take a moment to access your strengths and weaknesses. What are you really good at? What things about yourself would you like to improve? What are your personal and professional goals for the next year?
List the answers to these questions in the Notes page at the end of this chapter. After a few months of meditation practice, revisit these notes and use them as a guide to see how far you’ve progressed in your development.
Click here to read the next post in the series.
Thank you for reading. Please join me here on Sunday, June 25th for the final kick-off of The Perfect Pause!
*I am an American novelist, poet, traveler, and crypto-enthusiast. If you’ve enjoyed my work please sign up for my author newsletter at my website. Newsletter subscribers will receive exclusive updates and special offers and your information will never be sold or shared.
Eric Vance Walton - Media
If everybody starts meditating, and starts making a connection with themselves, our spirit and our inner strengths, it is the first step towards a violence-free world. Do No Harm. Start medidating.
This post received a 1.3% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @ericwoelk! For more information, click here!
@ericwoelk
you are right...meditation is more related to spirituality for me than religion...brings out the inner being which is pure of violence which has taken over the world...we need a violence free world indeed....Thanks @thedanzel for your upvote which shows you agree with us...
do check my blog as i sent my first intro post along with a nice joke
will appreciate if you support me & upvote, if possible resteem and comment...plus follow..thank you
Indeed. I think religion is another potential way to find your path towards spirituality.
I so agree with those statements. I really feel that the world would improve dramatically if more people practiced this!
Agree and it promotes lucid dreaming
Hey, how come cheetah did not pay you a visit if you are posting your own stuff LOL!
Kidding my man, hahahaha!
As I said to Lydon below, I am glad to see you doing so well, you are such a nice dude.
You must get sick of people telling you this every day eh??
(:
Steem On brother EVW!!!
good point lol
Since i discovered meditation and started to practicing it with different types of technics i finally started to be aware of myself. I started to notice my behaviors , my paranoia , fears and etc. I just slowly started to remove them one by one and i just realized that i was wired by so many mind settings just like a computer programmed and i am certainly gonna try this one and share my thoughts about it .Great content , i truly see how much you putting on this posts .
Thank you.
indeed meditation is a critical skill in achieving self-awareness and understanding our relationship to existence. it also heals our cells and energy bodies by consciously tuning your frequency.
@ericvancewalton is a great guy, you will like all his posts and comments, he is a beaut.
Hey Barry, Since I own the rights and it's never been published isn't posting this content okay? Thank you, man! It's always good to have the support and kind words. Steem on, man!
Yes, I was mostly kidding. I have read the stuff on their posts the last few weeks and sometimes people like us that make our content, templates etc sometimes the bot says something -- but I was joking around for sure.
I was out with The Statist again I was telling about your book and our crypto talks tonight.
LOL
Yeah, I was pinged by that cheetah bot a while ago for my joke posts! Haven't seen it for a while though. Thanks for spreading the word about the book. Can't wait to share that one. Would you like to be a beta reader for it?
I will do what I can to help you.
I have a lot of headaches and eye/head issues now with my injuries but I will do my best to help my man.
IDK what a beta reader is, can I just be a regular reader?
LOL!!!
Hey, Barry! A beta reader is just someone who reads the manuscript before it's published and offers feedback.
Followed/upvoted/appreciated! What a cool post. I'm going to check this book out. Sounds like something I need to implement.
Thank you! I appreciate the support!
I am thinking about that because I have never pondered that quote from this logical conclusion.
It is cool to read through this and hear your experience pouring off the page. It is clear you have practiced what you are preaching.
Side note, I am excited to see your payouts go up since the hardfork! Many of the trending authors had a decrease in their payouts but yours have nearly doubled it seems. Congratulations!
EVW deserves it. He is one of the nicest people on here.
Whale or No Whale factors considered........ and I feel the same about you Lydon.
Steem On folks!
You are right on BD. Eric is a superb individual and I always enjoy talking with him.
My friend, you always find a way to send out a solid encouragement. Thank you. You are building your way to that whaledom with your 1700+ followers.
Steem on indeed!
I will be honest when I was new, and learned about Steemit and the numbers and stats, I was nervous to even make a comment on posts or replies to people like @ericvancewalton and @stellabelle -- I have told them.
Just bc of their numbers LOL.
I have enjoyed my getting to know them a lot and EVW has become a friend I chat with offline of here at times too, I really blew it not having them as friends in my life earlier.
Live and Learn amen.
(: You are so nice to me, I always appreciate you a lot my man.
You are friends with them now, and how sweet it is.
Live and learn indeed.
It is my nature my friend. Besides, when it is reciprocated by good men like yourself it becomes easy, haha.
(:
I'm kinda thinkin' you're the nicest guy on Steemit, Barry! Lol. Thank you, man. It's always great to hear from you!
I tagged you in this post a few mins ago in a reply, saying I was intimidated by you, I mentioned it awhile ago to you, which in hindsight was dumb because you are such a nice dude
LOL.
Thank you for all the kindness and support, it has meant more to me than you know most likely.
That is partly why I mention posts to you I have up, I know you are busy, but your comments mean something to me.
Why were you intimidated? No worries, Barry. You're a really good guy. I really like your kindness and revolutionary spirit.
Thank you, Lydon! I really believe in this wholeheartedly after I experienced the benefits in my life. I was so surprised by the increase in post payouts today! What surprised me even more was how much my votes were worth. It was really amazing to see my votes increasing post payouts by almost $10 at 100% power. What an incredible feeling.
Enjoying each piece of your book you share - hopefully this Sunday's release goes well.
It is great! I was surprised as well how much votes were worth.
I kept reading posts that were explaining some of the numbers we would see but it was easier to see the results, haha. It is such fun to vote on someone's post and make a tangible difference in their payout.
Thank you, Lydon!
I'm amazed at that kind of change you're experiencing with your "power" and hope to be there some day too! Well done... bask in it!
Thank you!
Your chapter 1: Meditation is Liberation, was a wonderful beginning to your new book, The Perfect Pause! I found your statement; "By continually thinking negative internal thoughts and comparing ourselves to others, many of us fall into a rut of sabotaging the quality our own life experience.", to be so true. Only those who have been through such experiences, truly know the impact of such internal negative thoughts. I know what I've read so far is a realness of true life experiences. Congratulations on a fantastic start! Here's to the success of you new book!
Thank you so much! This process of launching a book is so much work but also so much fun. I appreciate your kind words!
Another great read.
I hope you stay optimistic.
5 days left until the final kick off!
Thank you! Yes, I'm feeling very good about this launch. I finally got to hold a copy of the book in my hands and the design exceeded every expectation.
Dr. Elizabeth Hoge, a psychiatrist at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, says that mindfulness meditation makes perfect sense for treating anxiety. “People with anxiety have a problem dealing with distracting thoughts that have too much power,” she explains. “They can’t distinguish between a problem-solving thought and a nagging worry that has no benefit.”
“If you have unproductive worries,” says Dr. Hoge, you can train yourself to experience those thoughts completely differently. “You might think ‘I’m late, I might lose my job if I don’t get there on time, and it will be a disaster!’ Mindfulness teaches you to recognize, ‘Oh, there’s that thought again. I’ve been here before. But it’s just that—a thought, and not a part of my core self,'” says Dr. Hoge.
Great advice! Meditation has been highly effective in lessening my own anxiety and panic. Thank you!
Being able to spend time in nature is also a wonderful way of meditating..sitting and enjoying all that Mother Nature provides us allows us to push away our mind to appreciating what is in the moment.
Immersing yourself in nature is a great way to hit the "reset button" for your consciousness. When I feel totally overwhelmed a walk in the woods with our dog always helps no matter what.
I am fortunate to get to walk along a rover bank every day...this is my meditation!
Yes it is amazing sensation in nature...I love it especially by water!
Thts a good article very detailed ,cant wait for the final kick-off of The Perfect Pause!!!!
RESTEEMED
Thank you very much for the support!
You are welcome sir. Much love from Zimbabwean community.
Wonderful! I return that love back to you all. We're happy to have you all here!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH WILL DO SO.
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Do you refer to meditation techniques that are closely tied to asian or eastern cultures? Any thoughts on Christian meditation?
I learned Kriya Yoga meditation but am a firm believer that all forms of meditation are beneficial. The style you wish to practice is a very personal choice. I'm a proponent of it all!
This is my first time of coming across your post, i must say you are great in your meditation article. Indeed meditation works in connection with our spirit, if we should meditate positively and put it in practice that means our dreams will be achieved because i see meditation in form of dream. Thanks you article touched my sense of reasoning.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the post!
Thank you for sharing this @ericvancewalton! You've re-planted the seed :)
Awesome! That's the best compliment you could give. Thanks!
Anytime :) Have a good one!
Buying this one for sure, Eric.
Very nice! Thanks, @mindfreak!
Good luck with your book Erick, its an exciting time when we first get published. I'm on my fourth book now.
Meditation is beneficial to a persons health and with practice we find all we need within ourselves.
Thanks, publishing your work is very exciting. Congratulations on your four books!
@ericvancewalton I'm so happy your book launch is going so well!
Meditation is such an important and powerful tool, and I truly believe we have only just begun to scratch the surface of what's possible.
In fact, it's what I use to help people with tinnitus. I have tinnitus sufferers focus on the sound of their tinnitus as the object of meditation, and because meditation is such a powerful and relaxing practice, patients associate the relaxation with the sound and it stops bothering them.
Great work man, I can't wait to read more!
Thank you, @mindover! I share your feelings about meditation. We have so much yet to discover! I had no idea that it could be used as a tool to help treat tinnitus. I'd like to learn more about that. My brother suffers from it.
Perfect timing, just been learning about about mindfulness and meditation as need to do something to get stress levels and anger thermometer down. Will definitely think about buying your book.
Glad you experienced a bit of synchronicity @hopehuggs! I hope you enjoyed the post. There's more free content coming later this week!
Cannabis [Marijuana] had been proved for peace Meditation and inner peace for the life.
I have nothing against cannabis! It has a lot of benefits.
yes, 100% useful plant and thousands of years our ancisters used as legal but nw this has been ilelgal, it sounds more bad.
many ppl still depends upon these plants for their survive.
Great post!!!
I enjoyed reading it, like last time! I'd definitely have to get my hands on your book! I don't know if it's a quote of some kind, what was going on in my head was something like this: "Watch out what you think, because thoughts become words. Those words evolve into actions. And those actions define who you are."
In other words: Stay positive, believe in yourself and your strength and nothing is impossible anymore.
Thank you for sharing this with us!
Have a great day and steem on!
Wonderful. Thanks! I've read that quote somewhere before too. It's so true. Thanks for your support, it's very appreciated.
Really good to read this, I meditate a lot as well as drink a lot of water and stretch constantly. Nothing better in my opinion!
Awesome, those are all good things! I do hatha yoga too and always feel phenomenal afterwards. Thanks!
Nice post, I realy enjoy it!
Love the gif! Thanks!
:-D thank you!
So cool that you are spreading the word about meditation. It is one of the best kept secrets to good health.
Thanks, man! You are so right...mental, physical, and spiritual health!
Hi Eric, really interesting your article. I was also interested in your opinion, what is the difference between meditation and prayer? Is one better than the other? Can one help you better to achieve that self awareness? Really interested in what you think.
Thanks! In my opinion meditation is more of a freeing yourself to become one with the universe and attaining the self-awareness you speak of...prayer is more speaking to the universe or your higher power. I hope that helps!
Its a good thing to meditate and I thought that was easy until someone ask me how to meditate. That i didn't know what to say. I realizes that he has a problem and he worries so much about it. I simply told him to put something wonderful, positive, encouraging and most importantly God's words in place of the worries and it will become meditations. Help me If you know better..
There are many different ways to meditate but this is the way I do it.
I started with a Mindfulness Meditation where you focus on the breath. Now, when you focus on the breath, you focus on the sensations of your breath while "letting go" of any other thoughts that pop into your head. I bold the word sensations just to emphasize the fact that you are trying to do nothing but experience the sensations of your breath. You may notice the sensations of your breath strongest either at the tip of your nostrils or around your chest. If you catch yourself drifting off in thought, just calmly return your concentration to experiencing the sensations of your breath.
Sounds easy but give it a try! Thoughts will pop in your head against your will. The things you realize during meditation will have a great impact on how you conduct yourself.
Here is a good guided meditation by Sharon:
The technique I use is to acknowledge the random thoughts and worries and visualize them leaving as I exhale. There are many different methods though.
excellent as always :-))
Thanks, my friend! I have a picture to share with you later of some local tile work.
great, love to see it!
Great job, keep the posts coming. Really enjoyed reading this, thank you for sharing :)
I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks!
Great post! Thanks for sharing. I love to find my true divine self, soul expansion for infinite possibilities in my meditation practice. The challenge is though, as human beings, unlike other species, are cursed with a conscious awareness of our own mortality. That is we are trapped in the physical bodies, our life is finite. We have to live up to the societal expectation to earn a living, carry the responsibilities in order survive in the big, bad world. This might be a little extreme, or maybe just the dark side of spirituality - I must admit I experience some morality-freak out some vivid feeling resembles in the "The Shawshank Redemption" - to desperately find a way out. To me, the challenge is though, work with the limit, constraint and the practical aspect of life while maintaining a balance.
You're wise! Balance is the essential. We have to strike that delicate balance between spirituality and survival in this physical world. This isn't always easy. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
Thanks, @ericvancewalton - I follow you! Keep you the positive, balanced spirits and enlight us all here! Look forward to seeing more of your posts!
Thank you!
I used to overthink, which consumed a lot of precious time of mine. But after meditating for few days I saw the boost of my productivity! I think people, who are suffering from procrastination should try to meditate. It REALLY works! (at least for me :) )
So glad to hear mediation worked for you in that way! Thanks for your comment!
your content is amazing, keep it up
Thank you!
Today start meditating ! :)
Awesome!
Great, I really love meditating, in a lot of ways it helped my life for the better, thanks for the post!
Great to know, thanks!
I am new to maditation and have may questions and I guess you know much about meditation, so you can help me.
Is meditation is sitting in a silent room, taking long breath, do not think about anything..Feel the breath???
How do we connect our body and mind during meditation.
Meditation in it's most basic form is just paying attention and being aware of your breath. One very simple way to use meditation at any time or any place is to just pay attention to your inhalations and exhalations. If you do this you'll relax instantly. The breath is like the connection between our physical bodies and our consciousness.
Wow! This is some seriously great stuff to think about, I can't wait for more.
Thank you!
Many people overlook meditation but it has such worth and value. Appreciate the post to raise awareness, keep it up brother.
You're right! People are so "busy" they don't see so much of what is right before them. Thank you for your comment!
Thanks so much for sharing, that Marianne Williamson quote always serves to remind me to reset my thinking into a more positive frame. I love her work. We mediate regularly and also use binaural recordings and brainwave entrainment. I will be on the look out for your book. Thank you
Thanks for reading! I use binaural beats quite a bit for relaxation. They work great!
I think you ahve an interesting approach to meditation. I wasn't too onboard at thirst but I like this post very much by the end. I'll try to look for more of your writings, any recommendations? Thanks for sharing!
Hi, @aguayojoshua! If you Google my name all of my writing should come up in search. I blogged and published books for years before finding Steemit. Most of my other social media links can be found in the footer of this post.
Nice post! I love meditation so am curious to see what you are coming out with! I love how it takes away the noise inside my head and makes me more focussed.
I feel a big problem of society is that people are reluctant to take responsibility for their lives. It's so much easier to point fingers and blame others for our own mistakes.
Meditation and awareness can help w that I believe, so gl w your book release!
Also...Shawshank Redemption is Tha bomb! Love that movie!
Hey, @athenajade! Yeah, meditation is pretty much my savior too with as busy as life is these days. Shawshank Redemption is my favorite film of all time! Thanks for stopping by my post and your support!
Inspiring! Followed :)
Thank you!
@ericvancewalton I'm looking forward to more of your posts on the subject!
Which meditation techniques would you recommend? I'm curious to know what helped you with anxiety and panic attacks as I suffer from it myself...I was doing CBT, that helped a lot..started with yoga this year but sometimes it's very hard, I can't sit still, everything is itchy, distracting..Recently I've tried that hippy app for chakra opening when you listening to music...seems to work well to shut my brain for a while :)
Any tips welcome and following you now! & good luck with your book launch!
Thank you very much! The simplest the meditation techniques are the best IMHO, especially when you're first starting. All you really need to do is pay attention and bring your consciousness to your breath. When your mind wanders, gently bring it back to the breath. You can practice this very simple form of meditation anywhere at anytime, even while walking. Just a few minutes of doing this every day will bring you some peace. I'm glad to hear CBT helped your anxiety and panic! I would also suggest binaural beats. I'll explain a few other very simple techniques later in my book but merely watching your breath is a great place to start. The Perfect Pause is intended for those new to meditation.
Thanks for your reply @ericvancewalton...oh I'm going to check out binaural beats, never heard of those.
Keep your posts coming, I want to know more on the subject...and would be good to catch you on the chat sometime, when it starts working again :) .
Looking forward to reading this book.
Awesome! Please let me know what you think after you read it. Thanks!
Nice book it appears. I have looked at your previous post also.. you write very good. Keep it up and do share frequentlyyyy
Thank you very much @indiantraveller!
NOOB Guide to Staying Fit as a Day Trader: Part 1 - Mindfulness & Crypto - (Read Time - 3 Minutes)
https://steemit.com/fitness/@kingtate/daily-mindfulness-and-crypto
PLEASE UPVOTE THIS :)
thanks for the post
I best post I have read today on steemit is the following post .You should read it I promise it will be motivational
https://steemit.com/gedwriting/@awriter/i-see-humans-but-no-humanity
nice....resteem and upvote....plus follow you
Thanks!
you are welcome...my friend...
Dreaming is very important too!
https://steemit.com/life/@restlesswanderer/how-to-make-your-dreams-come-true
Having gone through a pretty mental year where I hit rock bottom, I turned to meditation. Having always been keen on the art of muay thai I have contiuned on my training path with this while adding time for meditation after heavy sessions
The results have been quite amazing and that negative self talk you mention is almost done pass through my thoughts and if they do they just keep drifting away
Great post and would recommend to as many folk as possible to start to try meditation as this is the key to a peace in the mind and you can achieve anything with a strong, clear mind
great post, keep up the good work, will upvote and follow
@livethedream0208
Thank you and I'm glad you've found something that is working for you! I appreciate the support!
great article. Keep them coming.
Thanks!
Congratulations @ericvancewalton!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following category:
Thank you!
I really enjoyed reading this post . Feel free to check out my profile if you have time :)