One of the problems most face today is having clarity about the future. In a world of uncertainty, we need direction to stay motivated to accomplish our goals. Worry about tomorrow can hinder our goals.
Clarity of mind is much more than paying attention. Sometimes, we have to work at gaining clarity. Meditation is not a religion but a focused habit that helps us gain clarity. Taking a few moments each day to ask ourselves a few questions and answer them, we learn how to establish clarity of mind.
What is meditation? Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.
Working memory allows us to control our ability to get things done. Unlike short-term memory, working memory fuels our ability to focus on our task. When worry or anxiety creeps into our day, working memory loses fuel. What stands out about working memory, unlike short-term memory, we utilize working memory to manipulate information to perform a task.
Think about a time you were working on a paper or project and the phone rings. You may still be focusing on the task at hand, but you cannot help think about the phone ringing. Distractions rob our ability to stay focused or manipulate information in short-term memory.
Anxiety or worry is similar to the phone ringing. We cannot ignore worrisome thoughts or events in our life. We may try to push them aside and focus on our task, but we usually will lose out to our worry or anxiety.
I like to think of clarity as a way we can focus our attention without the distraction of worry or anxiety robbing us of our day to day tasks. Another way to think about clarity is having peace amidst the storm.
If we can have peace amidst the storm, we can better know what we need to do next to keep us out of harms way – or get the job done. Meditation is one way to help us clear our worry or anxiety so we can focus on our tasks or have peace.
Today, I offer one way to begin utilizing meditation so you can find more peace amidst the storm. But, peace amidst the storm is not enough to live the life we dream of living. We also need to have goals, and work on those goals each day.
First, sit in a comfortable chair and starting from to the top of your head and moving to the tips of your toes focus on relaxing every part of your body. You do not need to close your eyes unless this helps you relax better. Once you move from your head to your face, move to your neck, then follow down each arm and each finger if you need to do so.
Once you relax each area of your body, think about your rump sitting in the chair. Make a purposeful effort to sense you body resting in the chair. Feel the cushion under your rear.
Second, find an object in the room to focus your attention. Look at the design of the object, the color, how the light reflects on the object. Think about where the object is sitting, and just pay attention to the object. If thoughts come up, recognize it as a thought and refocus on the object again. If emotions arise, feel the emotion and refocus on the object.
You may even focus on the temperature of the room, any smells you detect, and also sounds in the room. You want to be fully aware of your surroundings without engaging in any activity around you. Just focus on being present in the moment. Think of this activity as if you are watching a butterfly fly around the blooms of a flower. You are just an observer taking in the moment noticing any pleasant sundries such as smells, sounds, feelings.
Finally, continue to do this activity for at least ten minutes to establish a more peaceful existence. You want to practice this activity everyday for at least two weeks to form a habit. This activity of course will not make problems dissapear, but you will have better clarity and focus to know how to better get through tasks at hand.
I hope you find todays article helpful. Until next week, remember to love yourself and appreciate all of who you are in this life.
