Do you ever find yourself staring at the time wondering what to do next? The feeling that there is so much to do and so little time. When the time approaches you panic, shut down, find yourself staring at a blank space that used to be occupied by thoughts. Where is the motivation?
The force behind your action is what propels you into the next moment. Ask yourself if you are feeling burnt out in anyway. When we try to put too much on our plates in order to feel productive, we end up causing ourselves burn out. Just like a computer that is trying to process too much can freeze, so too can our minds. If you find yourself slipping into this state of mind – the absence of thoughts as well as actions. It might be time to take a break from whatever you are doing.
Close your eyes and begin to notice your breath pattern. Notice the subtle energy of your body. Observe your body as it rises and falls with each breath.
With your eyes closed notice the light through your eyelids. Now take your palms and gently cup them around your closed eyes. Take in a deep breath filling all the way up. When you reach the top of your inhale hold for several seconds. Three. Two. One. Now slowly exhale through pursed lips like you are making a small ‘o’ shape. Keep your palms around your eyes as you find another cycle of breath in the same way. Filling all the way up. Holding for three, two, one. Slowly exhaling fully out your mouth like you are breathing out of a straw.
Keeping your eyes closed. Allow the blank space to expand. Without needing it to be anything – just allow it to be. Let the natural breath come and go without any force.
As the mind begins to quiet and the body begins to soften observe if any thoughts are floating by. Without trying to catch them just notice them. Begin to notice the blank space between the thoughts. In this space we find stillness.
Continue to return to your breath from moment to moment. Naturally your mind will become filled with thoughts. Settle into the moment of stillness, even if that blank space is a fraction of a second. See if you can expand that blank space, the gap, the space between thoughts. The deeper your meditation the longer this space will be, the calmer you will feel.
Sometimes we become distracted, frustrated, by not being in a state we want to be. We feel guilty for the bad feelings instead of just allowing them to be. However you are feeling in this moment, find acceptance, move into stillness with calmness and ease. Give yourself permission to pause and then come back into your practice.
Stay with this stillness, expand the spaciousness, and just breathe.