A Calming Meditation

I feel like it’s important to do whatever we can to share resources with each other on how to feel better during these crazy times. Here’s a calming and grounding meditation that I do each morning, and have taught in my workshops. I adapted it from the meditation that Equus Coach Koelle Simpson described to me when I interviewed her about her morning ritual for my book A Beautiful Morning.

Sit tall, either crosslegged on the ground or in a chair with your feet resting on the ground. Close your eyes and rest your hands on your thighs or in your lap. Breathe deeply. Take a moment to feel your connection with the ground. Begin to picture the energy in the earth beneath you.  Breathe in deeply. Then breathe out completely.

Inhale and imagine the energy rising up through the ground and into the base of your spine or soles of your feet, then up your spine to the top of your head. Pause the breath and imagine it circling your head, creating awareness and self-compassion within you.

Then slowly exhale as you picture the energy flowing back down the front of your body and into the earth, taking any negative feelings or energy with it. Breathe out completely, then breathe in slowly and picture the energy rising again.

Continue the cycle at your own pace as long as you like. Up your spine as you breathe in … circling around your head as you pause the breath … and back down into the earth as you exhale.

If you like, you can give the energy a color—perhaps a lovely healing green, or a beautiful calming blue, or an energizing orange.  Imagine it swirling up into you from the earth. Let that energy fill you and surround you so that you are glowing with that color.  When you’ve completed your last exhale, open your eyes.

Take It Easy and Make It Easy (on Yourself)

Happy New Year! Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I have in the past, and I’ve rarely been able to keep them. I always tend to try to make a huge change or set a lofty goal, and it usually just leads to tears, cursing, and self-recrimination. This year, I’m going to apply a suggestion from several of the women I interviewed for my book on morning rituals. I’m going to START SMALL.

To quote from chapter 22:  “Keep it simple and achievable. To help with consistency, attach it to an existing habit. … Take it easy and make it easy. Start with tiny changes (i.e., I will take ten slow breaths in bed each morning this week), then add on as those become routine.”

In 2019, two of the main areas I want to focus on are physical fitness and creativity. So I've committed to doing one plank and writing one page a day, every day. (And from past experience, even this may not be a small enough start for me!) But it's achievable with just a bit of discipline--and infinitely easier than my previous goals have been, especially where exercise is concerned.

So if you are making any resolutions for this year, I encourage you to go gentle on yourself. Take teeny tiny baby steps. Make it virtually impossible to fail rather than virtually impossible to succeed. You can always ramp it up later. But don't underestimate the power of small. A single drop of water repeated constantly can wear away stone.

I wish you the best of luck and a healthy, abundant, joy-filled 2019!

Joy

Today, let’s celebrate JOY. Let’s focus on all the marvelous, magical things that make us happy. To that end, I want to share with you a poem that my friend Mary Walker (talented, lyrical writer and also participant in my book A Beautiful Morning) published this week on The Clearing. Now, go forth and do the things that make you full of joy!!!!!!!!!!!

Meaningful Morning Rituals in Ten Minutes or Less

I'm so excited to announce that my article on how to fit a morning ritual into a busy life has been published on The Daily Positive! If you're not familiar with it, this is an amazing web-based community that is full of inspiring resources for wellness and creating a happier life. I am thrilled to be a part of it!

You can read my full article here.

I'm a Guest Blogger!

I was honored to be asked to write a guest blog post for my friend, fellow Lucky Star camper and writer Keri Wilt (who is featured in chapter 2 of my book A Beautiful Morning and is pictured below).

I have been enjoying Keri’s blog for over two years. She named it FHB and Me because her great-great-grandmother is Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and many other beloved children's classics. I don’t know about you, but I adored those books when I was younger. I re-read The Secret Garden after meeting Keri, and found even more meaning in it as an adult.

As Keri says, she "blows the book dust off [FHB's] inspiring words and legendary life, then mixes them with her personal stories for a multigenerational twist on the everyday." The post I wrote for FHB and Me is titled “Discover the Magic in Your Mornings” and you can read it here. Then take a moment to check out some of Keri’s posts—they are always thought-provoking and inspirational, and I find that they generate a lot of what she calls “head bob moments”! Enjoy!