The following blog post is from guest blogger Julia Frehner of Soul Space Studio. Soul Space Studio is a place to help you discover who you truly are and the path you are on. Julia offers both in person and virtual practices and offerings. You can contact her at julia.soulspacestudio@gmail.com or through her website soulspacestudiowa.com.
“Life is really simple, we insist on making it complicated.” ~ Confucius
Are you thinking, as I once did, “Yeah, easy for Confucius to say, after all he didn’t live in this fast pace, high demand, busy 21st century.” Some of us, me included, could argue the second part of his statement as well, “There’s no way I insist on complicating life.”
Several years after moving through trauma, there came the realization of trauma’s lasting residual effects. The most notable, chronic pain, adrenal fatigue, high anxiety, panic attacks, depression all became a way of life. My desire to be “normal,” added to these stressors. You know “that normal” of keeping up, doing enough, taking on one more thing, and attempting to make it look oh so easy while being crushed under the weight of life’s complexity.
It took a huge toll on my wellbeing and the quick-fix-prescribed-solution was another Rx. All parts of me, physically, emotionally, mentally, energetically, and spiritually were coming undone. This is when Confucius’ quote showed up in my life. While it angered and frustrated me, it also gave me pause, “How do I simplify?”
Prior to this coming undone, I’d explored various types of meditation. It was now, at this seemingly most desperate time, that I chose to incorporate meditation into my daily life. I’d read reports of individuals claiming ease in chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and so much more, it was worth giving it, meditation, a real go.
Meditation has become as much a natural part of my life as brushing my teeth, changing clothes, or that first cup of morning brew. It was my desire to seek alternative ways of managing the residual effects of trauma, and meditation has been more than effective.
As an embodied practice, meditation has also gifted me so much more. One of the unexpected benefits has been honing in the subtleness of the senses. Foods taste better, lovely sounds like bird songs become more noticeable than the rumble of a lawn mower, colors are more vibrant, there’s more responsiveness to touch, scent is heightened. In fact, because I like to use certain candles and incense while meditating, scent invites me into a mindful, meditative state. Meditation didn’t stop at activating the five senses, it also brought an awakening of the sixth sense, my intuition.
Another unexpected and wonderfully welcoming effect of my meditation practice is life simply simplifies itself. It’s really rather magical how putting an emphasis on simply being simplifies the doings of my life. I can’t fully explain how giving and honoring time for myself to meditate opens up a flow of time to accomplish all I want and “need” in a day, all the while keeping it so simple.
If you ask individuals who meditate why they do it you’ll most likely get various answers as well as various ways they mediate. They’ll all likely share what a value meditation is to them and how their personal practice brings simplicity into their lives. Of all the colleagues, clients, friends I’ve associated and worked with who meditate, not one has ever made a claim against the benefits of meditation.
Of course, you don’t have to go through major life altering events to start a meditation practice. I highly encourage simply doing it. There are no real rules to mediation nor any necessary supplies. Setting aside uninterrupted time for yourself is about the only requirement. This article on the history and various types of meditation is really good and informative https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17906-meditation. I’ve probably not only done most of the various mediative modalities described in the article but also facilitate them.
I invite you to take a few minutes today to simply BE. Included here is a guided meditation for you. And, if you’d like to dive a bit deeper, schedule a no cost consultation with me. We can explore ways to bring more simplicity into your life.