Date

Waning Maiden Moon

I'm not having an easy time meditating these days. I just don't seem to be able to concentrate, and whatever I'm doing in the bungalow seems to bleed into my meditation time.

Now, it's hardly surprising that my mind is a touch restless. Life is rather stressful at the moment. In no-man's land somewhere between lives, it's hard to tell where home even is. I don't feel grounded enough for my mind to rest.

My new experiment of meditating at sunrise doesn't help much either. I've never been very good at finding stillness first thing in the morning. So I have really set myself up for a double difficulty.

After over a month of practice, though, I'm beginning to learn. Apparently, my mind comes to rest when I focus on my body. When I direct the first rays of the rising sun, or the colours of the sunset, into my body, I find it much easier to relax. Just watching my muscles let go of tension really helps my mind to let go of thoughts about painting, or the fact that the veg patch still needs digging, or whether the estate agent managed to get some nice pictures of our house.

Today, the wind helped a lot. The strong winds make a big difference from the quiet weather we've had recently. The wind really touches me, flows through me, and helps me to focus on my body. It's lovely to sit out and let the cobwebs blow away.

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Meditation at sunrise by skyseeker

For the next six days, I'll be with my spiritual community at Wildways. There is a morning meditation at 7:30 in the morning, the same time that I got up for my sunrise meditation this morning. So it shouldn't be a problem joining in with that. Hopefully, the sense of shared presence with others will also help and give my daily practice a boost.

Do you have a regular meditation practice? What helps you to still your mind? What hinders you? Although I won't be here to read your comments in the next week or so, I'd love to see some when I get back.