I enjoy the music/singing at my church very much but I have noticed lately that I rarely sing with the rest of the folks there. I remember as a young person my Sunday school teacher telling me she does not like to sing, but to listen and mediate. I guess that was the first time I realized that it was ok not to sing. My parents always sang every word to every song. What I have come to realize is that part of what makes Sunday morning sacred to me is the opportunity to meditate. By meditate I do not really mean some "religious" practice. Most of the time I am thinking about my life and relationships: school and my family. I NEED this time in my life.
Last weekend I was in a bad mood. Can't really determine why but I was definitely ornery most of the weekend. Singing time at church gave me the opportunity to reflect on my poor attitude and why. I did not really figure out why, but was able to stop and try to make the choice to change. Besides the sermon included Star Wars clips and this video as illustrations:
What I have come to realize in the busyness of life is that I require quiet time to think about life. Otherwise I get caught up in lists and tasks and accomplishments. I am the type of person who feels satisfaction when something is finished. Sometimes I get too caught up in "doing" instead of just "being." Sometimes I am more concerned with getting "things" done than my relationships with people. I need time to stop and re-focus on priorities instead of my Google task list.
When my life becomes too busy, I feel stressed. If I am not checking things off my list, I feel stressed. If I take the time to reflect and then I relax and focus on my real priorities. I believe this is why I was ornery-I needed some down time to think. I also think this is my most of my blogging is done on Sundays or holidays. My regular school week does not have time in it for reflection and that is really too bad.
Check out this book for ways to take your meditation down even a notch lower:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Living-Buddha-Christ-Thich-Nhat/dp/1573220183/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291046781&sr=1-3
I think you will find it useful. Thich Nhat Hanh is one of my favorites, but I find that Christians find this his most accessible book.
I do a lot of things that are not good for me, including not taking time to reflect. It seems I prefer to be as stimulated as possible when awake including listening to audio books or podcasts when I drive (usually prime thinking time.) While I know it isn't good for me to be constantly plugged in, I like it...
ReplyDeleteReflecting is so important. I, too, get so caught up with work,school, and my Google task lists that I just forget to spend time reflecting and meditating. This is my new resolution (not New Year's resolution).
ReplyDeleteI have started taking one thing at a time and finding a peaceful moment in the day to reflect. Reflecting and meditating is like breathing. We spending everyday taking so many breath's that are hurried. We never take the time to breathe properly, breathe deeply! Simple breathing can reduce stress...and so can meditating / reflecting! I enjoyed reading your post! It reminded me to "breathe"!!
I agree with a lot of what you said in this post. Reflection is a very important thing to do. If you always focus on the negative such as tasks and assignments, like you said, you'll become stressed.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, reflection on the things that are going on in my life will reduce stress. We always need to remember to take the time out of our day to relax and just take a breather.