DAY 5 - MEDITATION

Day 5

We all know it through the reading of spiritual books, meditation can definitely help you in your search for inner peace and happiness. So, this morning when I woke up, I decided that today was the first day of a daily meditation routine. You have to know that I have unsuccessfully tried meditation in the past, but this morning I was going to try something different. I’ve been reading, like everybody else these days, Eat, Pray and Love. When Liz, the main character is in Bali, she meets a medicine man who tells her to meditate by simply sitting still with a smile on her face, no mantra or rhythmic breathing, just a smile. He tells her that by doing so, she will attract good energy.

I need good energy. I want good energy. So, I sat down on my living room floor with all good intentions. I crossed my legs, closed my eyes and started smiling. Then, something happened, and no, it wasn’t enlightenment! I started thinking… That’s what always happens to me when I try to meditate. I start thinking… but this time I was looking at myself sitting down with a stupid fake smile painted on my face. I thought, this is not a real smile…. Let me try to make it more real… still not real enough…. Let me think of something funny… But if I start thinking too much I won’t be meditating anymore… I’m not supposed to think of anything… And so… another failed attempt at meditation!

I’ve also made attempts at practicing yoga. In 1983, my self-disciplined father took yoga classes and started practicing it daily. He is now in his 70’s and still does it, if not daily, at least four to five times a week. At that time, I was a teenager. My cousin, a girlfriend and I decided to register to a yoga class. The instructor began the class by making us get rid of bad energy. We had to stretch as much as we could and then… release with a loud growl. Stretch and…. growl… We would look at each other, trying not to burst out laughing. Needless to say that it seemed hilarious to our teenage eyes… a bunch of 40 year-olds stretching, releasing and growling, together, in harmony!!!! We lasted three classes!

Because I’ve always known about the benefits of yoga, I began classes again last summer, with the same cousin. This time around, we were able not to laugh during class, but after class, we would imitate the intonations of the instructor telling us to REEEEEEEEEELAAAAAAXXXXX! Anyway, I left on vacation with my family shortly after and never went back to the class. I loved it though! Every time I’d come out of the class, I felt renewed!

So there, in the pursuit of happiness, I know meditation and even yoga are unavoidable … so with this in mind, I am now writing it, so I no longer have a choice: IN THE NEXT 495 DAYS, I WILL MEDITATE DAILY. Even if it’s unsuccessful at times, I know that little by little I can learn to quiet my mind!