Is meditation your friend? I know it should be my friend, but true confession: I am terrible at maintaining a relationship with meditation. I know this is to my detriment. I know all of the benefits of meditation, but I have a very busy mind that sometimes focuses on all the wrong things. Lately, because of the external environment of divisiveness and confusion, I have become embroiled in the daily warfare of information and disinformation. These are uncertain times. The pandemic has taken its toll on our psyches, and I am empathetically feeling all these tensions as they steadily rise.
So what’s a desperate individual to do? I decided that I needed support to stop spinning in what may be and become grounded in what is. While scrolling through my phone apps, I looked at the little category called apps I haven’t used in a while, or something like that, and there sat, lonely and neglected, the app I once used to help me still my mind and go to sleep at night. Come to find out, it also has a good morning program where I can choose to start my day with my meditation coach.
Long story made short: I opened the app. It was happy to see me, and now in the mornings, I am happy to see it. My coach seems to read my mind. He tells me to avoid judging myself, my feelings or my thoughts. He grades on a curve and already knows all the difficulties I’m facing. His voice, familiar and calming, guides me back to my center. Slowly, I’ve begun to look forward to sitting in my favorite chair, breathing, listening and breathing again. Thoughts, feelings and moments come and go. I keep breathing.
~Lisa Kiel
