Starting Meditation
As I said in my post about washing machine brain, I started meditating regularly last summer. I thought I’d tell you how I started, give you a few pointers to things that worked for me and an update, almost a year on, of the difference it has made.
Anxiety and the washing machine brain
My Experience
Last summer I had a problem. No matter what I did I was nervous. Not just nervous to do new things, nervous to go to work, nervous about answering the phone, nervous that the last explanation I gave didn’t make sense, that people were judging my every move, that I just wasn’t good enough.
Re-framing busy – keeping a balanced outlook
So, work is incredibly busy. You’re under pressure to deliver various projects and you feel you just don’t have the time to do X. Sometimes we focus too hard on work commitments and the excuse of being ‘too busy’ is an easy way to avoid thinking about the repercussions of our actions.
Finding calm in 3 minutes
Having a busy day? Need to find a quick way to calm yourself and think? Need to reach a calm state just before a presentation? I have one way that works for me that I’ve seen mentioned all over the web:
- Inhale fast for a count of 4
- Hold your breath for a moment
- Exhale for a count of 8
Repeat this a few times to feel almost immediate calm.
For more information Jane McGonigal (author of Superbetter – a book everyone should read!) has created a video you can find here.