How to Meditate ALL Day for Amazing Results
Helpful tools for overwhelmed parents
The gift of being a mother is infinite; I’m blessed to be the mother of a fierce toddler. Since she has arrived in my life, she has become my priority; sleep-deprived nights, painful breastfeeding sessions, the first day away from her, the first fever, the first scratch on her knee, the first time she said “mama”.
Every single milestone has enriched my life beyond imagination and has been followed by a wave of emotions that are sometimes hard to deal with.
Becoming a mother has also meant putting myself second for a while until I realised how much it was hurting myself and my little family. That’s when I took Mothercare on board, after understanding that it was my duty to make sure I had enough energy and vitality to be present and live life at its fullest.
Meditation has always been my go-to tool when in need of tender loving care, and I have found tremendous comfort in the regularity of my meditation practice.
Having said that, sometimes, it is plain impossible to sit on my couch or cushion and close my eyes to zone out. I can try and put the alarm clock at 5 am, and my daughter wakes up at 4.55 am; I can plan to breathe for 5 minutes before picking her up from childcare, only to be called to come earlier has she is running a temperature; I can plan a long night session, only to be prompted to attend her needs by her constant crying.
As a mother is normal and worthy to have to wrestle with different obstacles and reality changes, and that’s how my meditation practice has slowly adapted to follow the flow.
When we think of meditation, we tend to think of the most common form of the practice — or at least the one we see most commonly depicted. That is, of course, the kind synonymous with the image of a sage guru sitting cross-legged, hands perched on their knees, with their minds calm, chanting ‘OM.’
While this is one example of a form of meditation, it is far from the only one. Just as beneficial in fact — if not more so — is practicing focussing the mind during your daily activities.
Because what meditation is really, is nothing more than focus. Meditation is what happens when you choose to focus your mind on something, rather than letting it bounce from one thing to the next. And the result is that you stop feeling so panicked and forget all those unhelpful thoughts that may have been racing through your mind before.
Many of the activities we engage in daily can already be considered as ‘meditative’. A good example is reading a book, or even watching a good film. Have you ever been to an amazing film at the theatre, then been completely disoriented when you exit? Because you aren’t sure what time it should be, or how long you’ve been in there? That’s because you’ve been so transfixed on what you were doing, that everything else fell aside.
The same thing happens when you read a good book. Put it this way: you can’t be engaged in an enthralling read and worrying about what tomorrow might bring. These two activities are mutually exclusive.
Now your objective is to bring that same sense of calm focus into other parts of your life.
Take ironing, for example. While you might be ironing while you watch TV, you may also find that at times, you iron as you allow your mind to go blank. You focus purely on the activity itself — the ironing — and everything else seems to fall away.
There’s something about the repetitive motion of moving an iron back and forth that can be perfectly meditative. You just have to let it! So calm your mind and choose to think about nothing else. If you can do this, then you will be able to turn ironing into meditation.
From there, the next step is to try becoming meditative while you’re washing the dishes. Then maybe while you’re walking.
The world is made of infinite possibilities that could allow you to become a much calmer person without needing to invest in expensive tools or classes.
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