When I first started meditating, it was something I did near the end of the day. At the onslaught of winter, it felt better to trudge through the long, dark days and save it as something to savor before bed, preparing the mind for a restful and calm entry into slumber. As the light lingered, and my working schedule shifted to a work-from-home situation, I moved the meditation sessions up to the moment I shut down the computer for the day, around 4 PM, as a way of establishing a line of demarcation for the work day, and allowing me to decompress from whatever stresses the job had created. As such, it became the midpoint of the day, where it remains more or less to this point.
For weekends or days off, I’ve been moving it up even earlier – around 2 PM – and it is the centerpiece of a good day. My meditation sessions last about twenty minutes now, and are the centering force that have kept me calm in the face of all sorts of insanity, especially now that Mercury is in retrograde until mid-July. In twenty minutes, I can go from agitated and bothered to calm and resigned, and even more than that, this consistent pattern of meditation has resulted in a greater level of calm in the grander ocean of my existence. Studies have shown that regular meditation changes how our brain operates on a daily basis, allowing it to be more focused and calm even when not actively engaged in meditation or deep breathing. I’ve noticed it firsthand.
Things still annoy and bother me, and I throw little hissy fits, mostly in my head, but they are over sooner and quicker than they were before. There is no bitterness or anger that fuels lingering feelings of upset or tumult. As the days pass, I’m working on reducing these reactions and bouts of disappointment even further, until they will hopefully be no more than blips or tiny crests in a sea of gentle waves.
Still, I wouldn’t recommend fucking with me just yet. Mercury is in retrograde and I will not be held accountable for hurting people if they come for me, even in jest. Namaste, mofos, namaste.
