17. Learn to Meditate and incorporate this into my daily being.

image via Oriental Meditation,Wellington, New Zealand

Also from the same site, this interesting exercise on meditation for beginners:

Breathing
Controlled breathing is the simplest form of meditation. Focus on your breathing and tell yourself silently "with every breath out I am going deeper and deeper, more relaxed....more at ease...". Just keep repeating "more relaxed....more at ease " and allow your limbs to become loose and limp and heavy. Concentrate on feeling the weight of your limbs while breathing more and more gently. Then when you are ready, feel your limbs becoming totally weightless and allow yourself to drift away from the present.

The instructions are simple but the exercise takes effort in the form of intention.

1) Sit down somewhere comfortable. (You could just sit on the edge of the bed, arms to your side, feet flat on the floor)

2) Say to yourself: I’m going to forget about yesterday, I’m going to forget tomorrow. Time is an illusion. The only thing that matters is what I’m doing right here, right now. (You can say this in your own words, but the point is to bring your focus into the moment.)

3) Breathe in slow and deep, and breathe out slow and deep say the words relax to yourself. Breathe in through your noses and breathe out to your mouth slowly. Take a few more deep breaths and let yourself relax. (Remember In meditation you want to relax the body but keep the mind awake. The body can go to sleep but you want to remain alert & aware. In the beginning you might fall asleep, especially if you’re laying down, this is okay. But over time you want to stay awake to finish the exercise)

4) Now start counting to 10. On the first In breath say the number 1 to yourself and say, I’m right here right now. On the out breath say the number 1 to yourself and say, I’m right here right now. Do the same thing with breath #2 (saying the number 2 on the In breath followed by I am right here right now and 2 on the Out breath followed by I am right here, right now) and so on up to #10.

5) Your goal is to get to the #10 WITHOUT thinking of anything else. If you forget to bring your focus back to the breathing exercise after more than a few moments, you must start back at the #1.

6) Each time you bring the mind back on track, you strengthen your will power and clarity of intention. This has tremendously rewarding side effects in every day life. (I will explain how you can use this new found power in another exercise)