90 Days of Daily Meditation -check in -week 2

If you have not already joined our 90 day meditation adventure, I hope you will still do so. Here is how the last week went for me.

Experiences during the week: This week’s meditation has been a struggle for me. I am disappointed in my meditation performance. I allowed my business of life to get in the way of my daily practice and there were even several nights when I laid down at the end of the day just to realize I had not meditated. When I would attempt to do so, while laying there, I would drift off to sleep. Though I did have one very profound meditation during the week. It happened when I meditated first thing in the morning. During my meditation I received a couple of great inspirations. One, was to rename a class I’m offering with a catchier name, occurred to me during the time I quieted my brain.

What I have learned: I have learned I need to schedule a time to start my meditation or I will try to do it at the end of the day when I lay down before I fall asleep.

My weight: I am still on the road and have no mechanism to measure if my weight has changed. I do not sense a change in how my clothing is fitting me.

How I feel: I feel motivated to do better this next week. I feel a need to put myself first again. My travels this week brought me from the eastern time zone to the pacific. Which I will be reversing tomorrow and then back the following week. Because these switches can be a bit challenging I will need the meditation more than ever, to help keep myself calm and centered.

How it is affecting my life: On the days I meditated early in the day, I found the meditation profound and a blessing to start my day. On the days I did it at the end of the day while laying in bed, I found it induced good sleep. I was exceptionally tired this week due to a demanding schedule and travels that took me to or through 9 different states from Thursday to Monday. Even though I had high hopes for more profound meditation experiences, in reflecting, I see that the meditation experiences I had were the ones I needed.

Thank you for reading my blog today! I am proud of you for the things you are doing and/or wanting to do to take care of yourself. Even baby steps count! I wish you a lifetime of meditations that are exactly what you need. Blessings!

Previous meditation blogs by the Adventure Sisters: Join Us on This Adventure, Meditate the weight away?, 9 ways to improve meditation, Meditation contemplations, There’s an App for That: A review of meditation Apps, 7 Common Meditation Myths, 11 Types of Meditation

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Exceeding with Determination

This week the Universe had lessons in determination for me. Travel changes and personal goals set a high bar that made determination a must if I was going to achieve the outcome I wanted. And in one case, I overcame my goal through sheer grit and a lot of help from my friends.

The week started like most of my weeks do. An early morning flight, with a connection in Chicago, was my commute to work. As I got settled into my seat on the first flight, I received a message that my second flight had been canceled. I had to decide if I was still going on or if I was going to turn around and go home and work from there for the week. I knew the reason for my trip was important to the office I was visiting, so I decided to venture on. Then there was a delay in my first leg of the trip. Again, I reconsidered if the trip was necessary, decided it was and chose to voyage on. The delays and cancelations were due to mechanical issues but the airline was doing the right thing by putting safety first. When I arrived in Chicago, some out of the box thinking produced the idea to rent a car and drive the rest of the way. I was grateful to be able to achieve my purpose for the trip and it was a good week. It was one of those work weeks where you know you made a difference.

Now to get back home. Getting home on time was really important to me this week because I had changed plans to originally go to Florida Thursday night and instead be home for my daughter’s golden birthday. She is a very family oriented person and I knew my presence was important to her. She even said as much in the numerous text and email inquiries as to whether I’d be there or not. Thursday morning I received word that the first flight of my trip home was canceled. Oh boy! I was determined not to disappoint my daughter, so I got on the phone with the airline and eventually it was determined that the best solution was to again drive back to Chicago where I could catch the second flight, which was still scheduled and showing departure on-time. It was going to be close for me to make it back to Chicago, but again, I was determined! Luckily the stars aligned and I made it with no troubles.

The second lesson of the week in determination came when I decided that I wanted to boost our numbers on our Facebook page. We have submitted our 3 book proposals to Hay House and are waiting to hear of our acceptance to be the next Hay House Authors. Publishing is a business and the publishing company needs to know that there are people out there who want to buy your books. The numbers of followers you have is important to them and they check to see. So I set out on a campaign to get people, I knew who supported our journey, to click the “like” button of FB. I started messaging my friends. Facebook thought differently and eventually blocked me from sending messages after I sent 136 out. I was not messaging strangers but rather friends, family, and coworkers. I didn’t let that stop me though! I recorded a video of myself (something I have never done before) and posted it to Facebook asking for everyones support to “like” and “share” our page and thanked those who already had. The response was overwhelming. Our friends and family flew to our aid and started liking and sharing our page. Initially I only wanted to get to 300 likes. This will still be a small number to Hay House but to us it felt huge! Not only did we realize this goal but we have hit 400 in 24 hours! Determination, not being afraid to ask for help, and friends and family who support our mission are what made this success possible. I feel that by the end of the week, we will see us nearing the 500 mark, which is my new personal goal. I am so grateful for the people who cared enough to support us but also for the determination that left me plugging away and thinking outside the box to get to the next milestone and beyond.

I have a friend who is an astrologer. He always would tell me that even when the stars are aligned, if you don’t make use of the energy, it will not benefit you. When the potential is there, you must use your own will and determination to move the ball forward. Sometimes you may even surprise yourself!

Thank you for reading my blog today. I wish you a lifetime of supportive people and the determination to exceed your goals! I love you!

**Photo credit today goes to my Niece Jordan who took this inspiring shot! I appreciate her generosity in letting me use it on today’s blog.

Don’t Give Up!

Yesterday my husband and I hiked a very difficult trail. It was rated as moderate to difficult. It has been a cold and snowy winter in Minnesota and we have been hibernating . We have not done our usual 10,000 steps a day, but instead been watching TV (which is a rare thing for us to do). Our fitness level is not what it has been over the last couple of years. We have a never say die attitude though and believe that there is nothing that we can’t do. So we took this and applied it to Rattlesnake Ledge Trail.

Rattlesnake Ledge Trail is a 4 mile round trip trek up a mountain. You climb up 1,175 feet of elevation to a view point that overlooks the Rattlesnake Lake. There are many switch backs that make the climb not as steep as it once was. This is not to say that it is an easy climb any means. There were spots along the trail that were so steep it was almost more like climbing a ladder than walking on a trail.

It’s a popular hiking trail though, where we were passed by many happy and fit people. There were people of all shapes, sizes, and ages. One young man who was hiking it in dress shoes made it look easy. He passed us four different times. When we told him he made it look easy ,he said it was because he was taking it slow. This struck me as funny since he kept passing us. We saw a mother carrying a baby, a lady carrying her puppy, as well as elderly folks making the climb.

We were probably about an hour and a quarter into our hike when it became very steep. This was the part of the path that earned it the “difficult” rating. This truly showed me that I have not been treating my body the way it deserves and I need to be better. When we hit the steepest parts, I would climb about three yards along the path and be so winded, I had to stop. I wanted to turn around and go back. Inside, my mind, I was screaming for me to stop. That inner justifier was saying you can go back and have more time to enjoy your Airbnb. You do not need to keep going. No one will judge you. But I had told myself I will do this, that I can do this, and I would be disappointed with myself if I didn’t do this. So I ignored that inner voice that just wanted to stop and forged on.

The climb, though hard, was full of beautiful scenery. Trees so tall they take your breath away. Cute little wild flowers that added a splash of color. We tracked on about another 15 minutes when my husband verbalized what I had been thinking. “I feel like I just want to stop and turn around” he said. Well nothing brings out my inner cheerleader like hearing someone else want to quit. I suddenly was very positive about our success. I kept telling him how “Creps don’t give up”. We could and would do this. We would be so disappointed in ourselves if we didn’t. We continued to plod along up the mountain, to a promise of a breathtaking view.

The inner cheerleader in me lost strength after a bit and I began to question my sanity. I asked Marty repeated if he wanted too stop and turn around. I worried about how sore our bodies would be the next day. Marty was now motivated and his never let go attitude was in full out determination mode. On we went.

As some other hikers were descending, we asked how much farther. The lady told us we were very close. The man said what we thought was 40 minutes. Could I really keep going another 40 minutes. Yes, we were going to do this. No matter what. On we went. Suddenly we round the corner on a switchback and could see light coming through the trees. I am pretty sure I heard trumpets blowing and confetti was falling. As we climb the final few steps to the rocky ledge top, one of the hikers, who had passed us earlier, said (with some surprise in his voice), “Hey, you made it”. We felt exactly the same way and told him so. We had made it! Our lungs burned, our legs were wobbly with fatigue, and sore muscle would welcome us the next day but we had made it. Despite all the screaming in our heads to quit! Despite the fact that it took us twice as long to climb it as we expected (2 hours vs the 1 hour promised on the sign), we had made it.

I climbed out on the edge of the ledge and sat down even closer to the giant drop off. I have always been afraid of heights but on this day I was Queen of this mountain! Looking over the sheer drop off did not bother me (much). I sat there, amongst the clouds, overlooking the valley. I could see the parking lot, next to the lake, below were we had started from. Wow, we did this!

When things seem to be taking longer than you would like, when your inner voice is yelling at you to give up, just keep going. Sometimes you cannot see the light through the trees that promise success, but it is close at hand. You might just round the next corner and see the light. Suddenly, without warning, you will be at your destination and have achieved your desired outcome.

Voyage on my friends. Thank you for reading my blog today. May all of your journeys end with success and pride! I love you! You can do this!

What Are You Afraid Of?

Fears, we all have them. Some are rational fears built out of protecting ourselves from things that have harmed us in the past. Some are instinctual fears, that have been pasted down through generations of ancestors, as a means to keep us safe from life threatening dangers. Other fears are irrational fears, we do not understand where they come from but the fear is real and we must deal with it. Then there are the anxieties of the future possible.

What does the future hold for us? How will our decisions and actions of today affect our lives tomorrow? These fears are just as real in our mind and how they affect us as the others. They are no easier to deal with than the fear of heights or needles would be. They drain our energy and affect our choices. I feel these fears can be very detrimental to us. They can cause us to not pursue our dreams or hold our loved ones back from obtaining theirs. I remember reading somewhere once (although I do not remember where) a line about fears that has stayed with me and still rings very true. “Why should we walk for we might fall”~ Unknown.

We are all very good at imagining the “what ifs” of various scenarios.

 ”If I apply for that job, my boss might find out and I may get fired and then the other company won’t hire me and I will be out of a job and I won’t be able to pay my rent and I will have to go live on the street”
“If I spend that money on that trip, I might not enjoy the trip and then the money will be gone and my car might breakdown and I will need the money to fix it”
“If I ask that person out on a date, they might laugh at me and think how could someone like me could talk to someone like them and if they did go out with me they might be mean to me at the restaurant and publicly berate me and everyone else at the restaurant will probably be looking and wondering why I am making a fool of myself.”

All of these fears, when we read them here, show us how we are worrying about something that may and most likely won’t ever happen. We are preventing ourselves from experience some of the joys in life, if we spend too much time fearing what might never come to pass.

“What if I fall?’, Tim cried.  Maerlyn laughed. ‘Sooner or later, we all do.”  ~Stephen King, The Wind Through the Keyhole

The only way to get past our fears, is by facing them. How did you get past being afraid of the dark or other fears you may have had as a child? Did your parents let you leave all the lights on all over the house, so you would not be afraid? Did you run fast across your dark bedroom and jump into bed before the thing underneath it grabbed. At times in life we all need to take risks. We need to boldly step out of our comfort zone and march into the unknown. At some point, the child decides to leave crawling behind, stand up and walk. Although they will likely fall (probably several times) eventually, walking will become comfortable for them.
Thank you for reading my blog today! I wish you a life of happily going boldly, where you have not gone before and finding the joy and magic this life has to offer to you.
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“What if I fall?’, Tim cried. Maerlyn laughed. ‘Sooner or later, we all do.” ~Stephen King, The Wind Through the Keyhole

“What if I fall?’, Tim cried.  Maerlyn laughed. ‘Sooner or later, we all do.”  ~Stephen King, The Wind Through the Keyhole