Do You Meditate?

 

Do you meditate? 

For the past couple years I dabbled with it but was pretty inconsistent. This year I think I've been far more consistent. I have a lot of anxiety issues and I do think that meditating (along with other things) is helping. But I admit that even to this day (after months of being consistent - not every day but often) I still struggle with it a little bit. What exactly do I struggle with? 

Well, the first thing would be keeping my eyes closed during the meditation. It's hard for me not to think about the fact that I can't see what's going on around me at that moment. Which is why I sort of do that soft focus technique. Pick one spot to focus on but have a soft focus. However, I've found that I'm getting a lot better at keeping my eyes closed during a mediation. I can now keep my eyes closed for an entire five minute mediation (most of the time) which is a pretty big deal for me. I did a seventeen minute meditation a few weeks ago and only opened my eyes two or three times, which is a very big deal for me.

The second thing is going over things over and over in my head. I don't want to say thoughts coming into my head because that's just going to happen. Which is something that I had to learn. Completely wiping your mind of all thought is exceedingly difficult. Maybe it is possible, I don't know, but let's be honest, it doesn't seem that likely. So this happens. The issues is when I latch onto a thought and just keep repeating it over and over in my mind. Turning it over and worrying about it, instead of just letting it go by. 

Despite this, I still feel that meditation is helping with my anxiety. (As I said, along with other things.) I'm curious, do you meditate? What challenges do you find with it? What other ways do you manage anxiety?