Meditations

What is meditation?
-a state of being present in the moment.

My name is Sapphira and I started meditating a few months ago. It felt like my emotions were out of control. Often, I was moody and depressed and I didn't know why. I tried going to therapy for a couple months, but it didn't help as quickly as I wanted. My therapist got more clients and it became harder to get an appointment at a convenient time, so I stopped going.

Sometime later, I decided to try meditation. I didn't have to leave the house or talk to strangers. Meditation seemed like a perfect solution, so I began researching. Right away it was clear that meditation wouldn't be a quick fix, but I was willing to give it a try to ease my anxiety. Many practitioners suggest that you meditate everyday for up to an hour. I definitely wasn't ready to make that kind of commitment, so I started small with ten minute sessions.

At first I was enthusiastic about meditating, but then I began to doubt its value. I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. My mind would become filled with thoughts about yesterday and tomorrow and my anxiety would rise. Isn't meditation supposed to help with anxiety? I tried it a few more times before giving up.

I went about life in a fog most of the time, trying to ignore my sadness, pain and emptiness. However, you can't ignore something that is part of you. You cannot escape your thoughts. You cannot escape yourself.

So I did more research and discovered a meditation called "Do Nothing" meditation. Basically you sit still and do nothing. You try not to focus on any one thing for too long. You are practicing being present in the moment and letting go of the need to be in control. It seemed easy enough, so I gave meditation another try.

To track my progress, I journal for five minutes after each meditation. In the future, I will post my entries. If you have any questions about meditation, please leave a comment. I will answer to the best of my ability. If you have already built your meditation practice, please leave a comment telling us about it. How did you start and has it been helpful for you?