The reflections of the exercises of the Loving-Kindness, Subtle-Mind, Visualizations and meditations are very hard for me. I can honestly say, I have tried all of them and decided that plain old mindfulness meditation instead of the guided meditations worked best. I can implement mindful mediation while I am walking around, even when I am at work. Mindful meditation is just being aware to live in the moment and an awareness of your thoughts and emotion without passing judgements. This one is for me!
While it has been a tough but also proud week for me because my daughter had her first two awards and graduation ceremonies with yet another set to follow in a couple weeks. At her award ceremony I was also honored for the work I have done with students in her Culinary program. My stress level hit the roof when I was asked up on stage, my blood pressure, temperature, and pulse skyrocketed, and I immediately felt sick to my stomach. I realized from this class I could control my feelings and instantly became aware of my breathing and started to calm myself. Needless to say, I did not get sick nor did I pass out, but I was sure grateful the honors had ended. I am thankful of what I have learned in all these exercises, although it felt like nothing really worked, but now I know better. Yes, it did work!
I have been extremely proud and overjoyed with emotions and I still have 2 more weeks until she graduates high school for good. On Tuesday of this week, she has her last "Final Word" presentation to share with the entire school body. The last speech she did, I ended up with half of the audience as well balling because it was so-real and heart-felt. I will have to all keep you posted to see what kind of mediation techniques I can pull out of my hat for this one....
Wish me luck--for living in the moment.
Have a sweet week classmates :)
Donna
Donna, congratulations on your daughters graduation. It sounds like she did so well! I totally understand your pride in her and her accomplishments! Kudos for using what you have learned to help with the sudden stress. I totally understood how you felt because I felt that way when I did a play last summer. I wish I would have had this class before then it might not have been so hard. I am glad to hear you found a meditation that works for you, that is a huge asset in daily life. I need to practice the meditations more and try some of them again. Some were difficult and I wasn't able to get much out of them. I think I kept trying then they might work. Don't forget to post what technique you used for her graduation :) Christina
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the success of your family and the ability to compose yourself in such a stressful situation. It just goes to show you how beneficial these exercises are. I was very skeptical at first but after a while I really have seen a benefit.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you on the dislike of guided meditation. It definitely stresses me out. I think it stresses me out because it means I have to let go of the steering wheel and allow myself to be guided by outside forces. Very stubborn of me! What is it about guided meditation that bugs you?
Christina,
ReplyDeleteToday was the day, my daughter gave a speech to her whole senior class and staff about the last 4 years of her high school life and trust me it wasn't easy. This was a kid in freshman and sophomore year that DID NOT care about school for touching reasons, and then junior year she was constantly an honor roll student. By the way every senior has to do it, it is official called "Final Word." I have to tell you it is the most gut-wrenching speech I had ever heard, she had many people there that she invited including the administration staff of her other technical school. I have to tell you I was doing pretty good, holding back tears of absolute humbling proudness by concentrating on my breathing, but I was concentrating so much I didn't want to miss anything she said. I look over and her Chef teacher, the director and were absolutely in full blown tears, the secretary next to me is holding on to me, whispering Oh, my God. Of course, I start whimpering with such meaning tears running down my face, I surely wasn't alone. My daughter had everyone, I mean everyone with tears just a streaming.
So my technique didn't work well this time, but I will still keep on believing it will work and keep on doing it.
Donna,
ReplyDeleteIts sounds like you have good reason to be proud, your daughter sounds very accomplished. You should also be proud of yourself. You have found new and healthy ways to deal with your stress and anxiety. Keep up your practice, and good luck in your life.
Donna,
ReplyDeleteWhat an exciting week! Congratulations on all counts!
I cannot get anything out of many of the visualizations that we have done. I have done some in the past, just to help with centering and becoming present fully to the place we were. I actually enjoy those. It is easy to become calm and ready to work when you start out with those.
I think that being mindful is the easiest one for me as well. The Human Flourishing one is the one I would like to use with clients. It has the potential to bring them to a point of realization that they can be great... not just good.
Donna,
ReplyDeleteYou and your daughter should be so proud! That is a great accomplishment! I bet it was scary standing up there but you must of done great! You found a very good way to deal with your stress! Great job!