Meditation Challenge Day 5

Day 5!
    I am still at it and for me that is a huge accomplishment. I think dedicating myself to meditating and writing about it in this blog has helped keep me accountable. I must admit it is easier for me to settle in and begin to meditate now. However, my focus and thoughts are still like a pinball machine. So, I found some good advice from Meditation Oasis. This site has podcasts for a variety of meditation topics, a blog and some wonderful resources on meditation that are written with the novice in mind. One particular post caught my eye, Difficulty Meditating. Ahhhh, so I am not alone in feeling this way.

     1. Problems with thoughts in meditation:
         I think I just needed someone to tell me that it was okay for my thoughts to be still firing on all cylinders! The more I tried to stop my thoughts, the more dominate they became. Now I can just let them go and eventually they will slow down and I can concentrate on my breathing.

     2. Restlessness:
         Sitting still and quiet and my ADHD sometimes do not get along the greatest. I do get restless and want to stop at times, but today I acknowledged the feeling and continued with my meditation.

     3. Being uncomfortable with our feelings:
         This has not happened to me yet, I am still learning how to be comfortable with meditating!

     4. Disappointed that "good experiences" aren't always there:
         I am still working on the basics of meditation, for me it has all been good experiences. Even when I am not sure of exactly what I should be doing or feeling, I am open to the process and am hopeful of the results.

Stay focused and have a fabulous day!

Bridget

Keep calm and Carry on!

August 27, 2016

Sooo.... after my not so successful meditation session I went and did a little research for myself on how to calm my mind down so I can move forward with my day. I came across a great blog called The ADHD Nerd. One of Ryan McRae's post Finding Calm within Our ADHD Mind was exactly what I needed to read today. He talks about letting go of regret and has 3 questions to help with the process.
1. How did this happen?
2. If I can fix this, how can I?
3. How can I prevent this from happening again?
Three simple questions that can adjust your lens and help put things in perspective... It is definetely worth a read!
"I think I carry much more than I should all the time- I carry more than anyone asks." Ryan McRae

When you check out the blog, make sure you sign up for his free Ebook. I did!

Four Steps to Finding Focus With an ADHD Mind

Bridget
P.S. I got bright pink earplugs this afternoon :-)

Meditation Challenge Day 3

Meditation Challenge Day 3
August 27,2016

     While I do feel having music or natural sounds playing while I meditate has helped me with this process, having my headphones is critical! Today was not my best effort and part of the problem was my headphones!
      I am the mother of 3 daughters, (All of us blessed with ADD/ADHD) my oldest lives in Chicago so she is off the hook for this one.... The other two.... not so much... I spent an hour looking for my headphones so I could listen to my natural music and reap some of the benefits of meditation.... Now try to imagine someone who wants to just sit with a quiet mind and she can't find her headphones.... Enter my ADHD mind wind.... I became a woman obsessed with finding them. Let me back track a little, yesterday I noticed a difference with having the headphones in while meditating, so I specifically put the headphones right by the back door to my deck. Sounds like a good ADHD strategy... well apparently my middle daughter thought they were hers, not sure how because my headphones are blue so there could be no confusion, and took them away with her for a few days... Unfortunately, I spent an hour tearing the house apart looking for them! Finally got the .... "Oh I am sorry I didn't realize I had them"... text.  Are you kidding me??!!

     To say that I may not have been in the best possible mind set to begin my meditation session would be an understatement! That ADHD mind wind was set for continuous loop and I could not just let go of meditating with headphones in. I HAD to have them. I could not move on until I found them. I could not just say, "Oh well, I will find later, this time is for me."  My house was clean.... not so much anymore... I woke up in a positive place and then my brain was hijacked and the crazies took over!
     I did meditate for 10 minutes, listening to the same music as yesterday but without headphones. It was not the same. I was not in a good place to start and my mood only improved a little. My mind was all over the place and the more I tried to concentrate on my breathing the more aggravated I got at the fact that I was doing this without headphones.....
     Lesson of the day... Let it go! What should of mattered was that I had made a commitment to myself and was following through. I am trying to better my life and be open to new experiences... not whether or not I had headphones!!

    The ADDitude website is a fantastic resource for people with ADD and the people in their lives. I read this article The ADHD Mind and found it helpful. If you haven't looked at the site I encourage you to do so, you are not alone !!

Off to buy another pair of headphones.....

Bridget