Guided Mindful Meditations for Stressful Times

Take time to check-in with yourself and appreciate the ongoing connection that you share with everything - the extended family of humanity across the planet, and the entire living natural world that surrounds you. No matter how we might feel sometimes, we're never really separate or all alone. Just recognize how much you truly belong in each and every moment of your life.

For virtually everyone, this has been the strangest, most difficult year experienced in a lifetime.  We can make peace with the past and recognize that we've found new ways to manage our life. And as we go forward into the new year, there is good reason to move ahead with intentional joy and peace for the better times to come.

The way we view what’s happening to us comes through a filter, or lens, in which we see the world. And when we lose sight of how powerful the filter we’ve created is, difficulties can arise.  Today’s meditation practice is about strengthening our ability to view and respond to life’s events, by looking beyond the limitations of our current perspective....to become more resilient and balanced.

The podcast this week helps us direct our intentions on peace and good will, coming straight from the heart. The guided meditation is a reminder that, in each moment, a breath of life comes to us from the outside world and our full body becomes renewed with each heartbeat. Feel how your heart is at the center of self caring and compassion for others.

Our meditation today is centered on how we can assist ourselves in navigating the troubled waters of the Covid 19 pandemic. Having anxious feelings is not a problem, it's normal,  but how we respond to our emotions is what makes the difference between experiencing more panic or calm. Mindfulness can be a key tool to help us approach the way that we deal with the things we need and want to take care of each day. All of us have the opportunity to focus less on worry and anxiety, more on choosing to do the things that bring real benefit to ourselves and to others - and we get to make these choices every single day.

This week’s Podcast is a meditative practice using guided visualization. In an especially   challenging time, many of us find ourselves riding a rollercoaster of emotions throughout each day. Self care, finding ways to help us take better care of ourselves both physically and mentally, is more important than ever. This session is aimed at seeing how we might be enabled to lessen our stress and anxieties by taking an ‘inner’ vacation whenever we most need it. Have a safe and happy journey...

This mindful meditation gives us a chance to help ease our anxiety by realizing something we can be grateful for in each day. When going through a difficult time, it's often harder to see the good that exists amidst our troubles, but it also reminds us not to take the truly most important things in our life for granted.  Allowing ourselves to find an attitude of gratitude is a choice we can make that actually helps enable us to feel less overwhelmed by today's temporary circumstances.  

Like the ebb and flow of the ocean waves, our own lives are continually in motion as we move forward through the high and low points of our lifetime. When we find ourselves enmeshed in a powerful tidal wave, it’s easy to become swept up and feel crushed by worry and apprehension. Being mindful of the things that are within our control can help us find satisfaction, if not joy, in what we choose to do - while riding the COVID-19 wave until it breaks.

Now is an especially important time to mindfully de-stress from anxieties and emotional reactivity, given the world-wide concerns over COVID-19 outbreak. This 20 minute guided mindful meditation can help us to remember that we all have the ability to engage in our own inner mindful awareness whenever we carry out an intention to do so. Taking some mindful moments to pause, breathe, and be grateful for what we have now, resting in the still eye of the hurricane of fear that's around us , can make all the difference in how we are able to deal with our own concerns and reactions. My best wishes for safety, good health, and peace to all.