A guided meditation on listening

 With the recent improvement in the weather I thought I'd record this out in the back garden.

It happened to be the day that the local herring gulls and dogs chose to be particularly vocal. I considered recording again but decided to leave as it was. It was a very good practice in mindful listening to acknowledge background  sounds, accept them as they were and to carry on.  I think it's examples like this that help to dispel myths around mindfulness and make it more relatable and authentic. 

So I am grateful for the unexpected background noises as it was another example of how mindfulness practices help bring balance, calm and acceptance. Thinking back to pre COVID times when I worked remotely dealing with low-definition video calls I didn't have the range of tools that I now do to manage freezes /dropped signal/ background noises/ other calls. 

So grateful to be developing these practices now.

Here's the meditation. I hope you enjoy Listening meditation

I'm too busy to be mindful...

 

Aren't our lives busy nowadays. Mobile phones; great at keeping us connected but also such a tie at times. 

Scrolling- that wasn't even a thing not so long ago. I am as guilty as the next person of sitting down for a few minutes and before I realise, those few minutes have stretched into a lot more. And what have I actually done in that time? 

Procrastination - noun

1. the action of delaying or postponing something.

   "your first tip is to avoid procrastination"

And work, well that takes up a load of time, plus the commute, plus the emails to do out of work. Plus trying to keep on top of all the household things and so on and so on. Life is busy. Children have flown the nest ( how did i have time to look after them when they were at home?!) but time seems to fly past faster and faster. 

So how on earth can anyone be expected to be mindful and fit in that as well? 

For me mindfulness is so much more than finding a time to sit and meditate; it's the general awareness through daily activities. It's finding times to take a few moments here and there. For example, cleaning teeth or having a shower are great times to do a mini body scan or a listening meditation. Waiting in a queue or being on hold on a phone call are , for me, amazing times to focus on a standing meditation and also really help avoid the impatience and 'queue rage'.

Sometimes all you need is to switch on the TV or scroll through the phone, but that might not leave you with the sense of calm and peace, or re-energised ready to take on the next thing on the list. 

Next time you're in a traffic jam, or in the longest queue on the phone * Your call is important to us...thank you for waiting...you are now 15th in line...*  See if you can focus on the breath, or the sounds you can hear. If you're able to walk around does that ease the impatient feelings that come and go?   

My next upload will be a guided meditation on listening.