dream | act | succeed

It sounds so funny, but this part of my life is the one where I struggle the most.

Why can’t I just switch off my brain? Just for a while, of course. Is that really so difficult?

Sometimes I can, don’t get me wrong on that! I guess, I am just used to outperform my expectations. Always!

But with this meditation thing, I don’t know. I try and try and try! But meditation requires more than just the skills to persevere. Meditation is more than just hanging around on an uncomfortable cushion for a while. Meditation is something else entirely! You need to find something within you. You need to understand.

Living in harmony. Of course we have all heard about that one! Calming down, listening to the ocean waves crashing onto the shore, or following the awakening of a dense forest in the morning light. Can you smell the fresh morning air already? Can you hear the birds singing? Great! And sure, nature is calming us down. Always! But wait! We can’t stay in nature all day long, can we? I mean, we have stuff to do! Right?

The thing about meditating is that we do not even need to just learn it, but also to implement it into our busy days. Of course I can meditate in a buddhist temple on the other side of the world without any phone service or whatever. But how am I supposed to use those skills in my day to day life? At work? In my free time? Where can I apply those skills?

I am not saying that it isn’t a good start, but honestly, it’s not very realistic that you can implement those skills into your everyday life, is it? Some meditate in the morning, others in the evening, some meditate alone, others need the a group for external motivation. Whatever you are doing, the question will always be the same. How practical is it really? Is this meditation practice help you in every walk of life? Is your meditation practice a thing that is in fact helping you in your life, or just a lifestyle choice? Something you do because you are supposed to do it?

The thing about meditating is that there is no general answer to all those questions. For some, it’s just fine to take some time for yourself, let your thoughts wander around and calm a bit down, while for others this is a totally different story.

With me finishing my master thesis once and for all, I will have the next two weeks off. At least if I do not find a job sooner. Time I can use for doing what exactly? Relaxing? Chilling? Watching TV? Ha! You are right, of course! I can not even do that! There are goals to reach! There are things I need to improve in! And sure, one of those things is related to meditations! I really need to tackle this issue once and for all! Why? Because it will make life just so much better.

Some days ago I had a presentation at work. I love presentations, by the way! I love talking about a topic and make others understand. But the thing that always gets me is my nervousness. I just can’t help it. It was just always there and it will most likely always be there? Well, not necessarily, I know! But trust me, it comes back. There was a time when presenting in front of a lot of people wasn’t a problem any longer. That’s why I can tell you that you can improve upon the situation. But once I came out of practice, so to speak, well, it went even worse that it was before.

But the thing is, that it is more a mindset thing than anything else. I expect the nervousness to appear, and well, here it is! But how can todays topic help me with that. From my own observations in situations where my body starts to freak out, I have analyzed what is going on. My breathing rhythm is way out of order. I breath too fast! My body posture changes. There is some tension in my body. And I get all the usual symptoms about being nervous.

Can I learn to get those situations back under control? Of course I can! But not through sitting around somewhere in India, right? I need to use those very moments when I am feeling kind of stressed out and not the weekends where everything is fine.

In our every day life, we tend to forget about us. We tend to forget about having some kind of a balance. We hustle and hustle and hustle, but is that even the right thing to do? I do not know, you are telling me!

My advice to you? Take some time for you! Even if that might sound selfish or anything like that! It will be totally worth it! Believe me!

See you next time!