9 results for tag: meditation
Everything You Need To Know About Habit Stacking
Habit stacking is an excellent way to add new habits to patterns and habits that already exist. I have done this by using several habits that I wanted to add to my daily life.
The first time I utilized habit stacking it did not have a name yet, or at least I wasn't aware it had a name. I really wanted to become consistent about flossing nightly before bed. This was not a hard routine to add a new habit. I sandwiched flossing in between washing my face and brushing my teeth, all pretty obvious and simple. Because it was natural to habit stack in this way, it only took a week or two for this to become the norm. I wanted to use this example first because I think it's one that most people would relate to.
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Why I Keep My Car & Desk Messy
Why I Keep My Car & Desk Messy.
I have another article published in the Elephant Journal. Here is an excerpt. The full article can be accessed through the link below.
"When I used to consume alcohol and drugs, everything in my life was messy. My bedroom was messy. My refrigerator was messy. My bathroom was messy. My laundry was messy. My car was messy. My relationships were messy. My legal situation was messy. My finances were messy. My friendships were messy. My mind was messy. My body was messy. If I got involved, it would be messy."
Please read the full article here Why I Keep My Car & Desk Messy.
I look forward to ...
How I Got Sober and What I Now Know About the Impacts of Alcohol
How I got sober in September of 1989 was incredibly anti-climactic. Nothing was particularly awful or special about when or how I got sober. It was a Monday night, three days before I went for an alcohol assessment. I wanted to "beat the test," so I stopped drinking in advance to prove that I was n0t an alcoholic. I know; it's pretty funny, actually.
Even though I have been clean and sober since September 11, 1989 (Yes. September 11th, but twelve years before THAT September 11th), my recovery has four separate phases.
How I Got Sober - Phase One
The first phase was short-lived. I was going to an outpatient program four nights per week and AA/NA meetings the other days. I hated all of it, was not interested in what they had to offer, and was only complying to prove to my girlfriend at the time and her therapist that I was not an alcoholic. I still chuckle when I think about it. That phase came to an end when I freaked out, drove my car over 100mph, passed a cop, had that cop pull me over and approach my car with his rifle pointed at me, and a whole lot of drama during the following twenty-four hours that lead to me being locked up in an in-patient mental hospital while "sober"....The Healing Apprenticeship Costa Rica 2023!
The Healing Apprenticeship is an amazing week-long Intensive at the beautiful Goddess Garden Retreat Center, Cahuita, Costa Rica, January 28 - February 4, 2023.
Is it time for you to break through the obstacles that prevent you from sustainably being yourself in all the beautiful and not-so-beautiful ways?
Have you had enough of the same obstacles showing up again and again, no matter how long you have been in Therapy, practicing Meditation, Yoga, or other Spiritual practices? ...
Thich Nhat Hanh Passed To The Next Dimension
There are about two handfuls of people who have shaped the course of my life beyond friends and family. Tich Nhat Hanh was one of them. We can add Martin Luther King Jr., Dalai Lama, Louise Hay, Thomas Merton, Mevlana Julaluddin Rumi, G.I. Gurdjieff, John Lennon , Mikao Usui, Mahatma Gandhi, and my former Teacher and Mentor Rev Betsy Browder. to this list. Today he passed to the next dimension.
He and Louise Hay are where my journey into meditation began in 1990. There were not many books one could find on meditation at the time. Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh, and You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay are the two that made the most sense to me. I felt like they were key to a door that I somehow knew existed without any rhyme or reason to think there was such a door. I do not think I am being theatrical in saying that they saved my life.
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Learning To Meditate
Learning to meditate is hard. This is my experience with learning to meditate. I was coming up on six months clean and sober. My sponsor's sponsor, which I jokingly used to call my grand sponsor, was coming up on 40 years sober. I used to enjoy talking with old Bill often. He was kind, respectful, direct, and openhearted. These were all qualities that I had desired, but I did not know how to express them myself or know many people who did, for that matter. So I used to like to talk with him whenever possible. He was one of the few people I trusted even a little.
One night after a meeting, Bill came over and sat next to me. He smiled that soft, gentle smile that typically made me feel safe, if only momentary. On that particular Friday night, I was not able to tap into his smile in order to shift the sadness, desperation, and frustration I was experiencing. Bill noticed this immediately. He leaned over and put his right hand on my left elbow, "How are you doing, young man?". Bill was old enough to forget pretty much everyone's name, and we were all either Young Man or Young Woman, regardless of age or any other identifying factors.
I let out a deep sigh and felt my belly clinch, "I'm not doing so good, Bill. I go to meetings, I talk to my sponsor, I hang out with all my recovering friends, I pray every night before I go to bed, and every morning when I wake up, I still feel miserable. I feel like it's never going to get better for me, and there's nothing I can do about it."
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... Is The Spiritual Movement Counter-Productive?
When you think about the current spiritual movement, what image or images come into your mind's eye? Do you think of a specific style or fashion? Who does your mind create as "spiritual"? What do they look and talk like? What color skin or body type do they have? What jargon do they use to tell you how "spiritual" they are?
I have been fascinated and, at times, felt saddened by how spirituality has become more of an industry than a practice. My Teacher always used to say to me whenever I thought I was becoming "spiritual," which still sticks with me today, especially in regard to how I market and promote my professionalism in private practice. She would say, "Michael, you need to keep your practice in the basement". I knew she was not literally referring to me setting up an office or a place to meditate in the basement; although I have done that before, she meant that I need to stay vigilant about thinking I have arrived and/or I am special. This does not mean I am any less special than anyone else. I am special in my way as you are special in your way, as equals, not more or less special.
The ego is relentless in its pursuit of creating an illusion in our minds that we "know something" that others do not know, or, in more current lingo, that we are "woke."
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