Monday Notes: 3 Lessons from a 28-Day Meditation

Recently, I completed a 28-day meditation. I’m purposely not including the name of the system or how I accessed it for a couple of reasons: I’m not trying to sell you on the idea, and the meditation is focused on developing extra-sensory perception, intuition, and improved memory and brain functioning, thus the methods are controversial. However, I do want to share some unexpected lessons I gleaned over the 28 days:

MORNING ROUTINES ARE IMPORTANT.

Before this meditation, I began my day as many do, by scrolling social media and looking at the day’s news. Additionally, I would remain in bed responding to and initiating text messages. This took about an hour. However, the system emphasized doing the meditation first thing in the morning because your waking state is the most receptive. So, every morning for 28 days, I did that, instead.

The most noticeable thing that happened is that I was less grumpy. Prior to this meditation, I would come downstairs, where Mr. Garland would give me a swift side eye to gauge how I was doing. For those 28 days (and after), he recognized that I was calmer and more agreeable. Not only was the meditation app right, but also this Forbes article, which explains how beginning your day with social media can cause anxiety and prime your day for distraction. It’s better to begin the morning with a grounding exercise, as opposed to viewing the terribleness of the world or engaging in someone else’s dire circumstances.

RE-PROGRAMMING THE MIND IS IMPORTANT.

One of the 28 lessons explained the importance of personal belief systems. The idea is that we all have beliefs that we either learned from our caregivers or that we developed over time. Here’s an example: While I know I can achieve anything I set my mind to, I also (have implicitly) believed there’s gotta be some hardship along the way, a struggle, if you will. Nothing comes easy. I’m not sure where I got this from, but I do know my life’s experiences were sometimes heavy on the uphill battles, with a side of rainbow at the end.

This meditation helped me to see that I first needed to control my perception about how life can be and then proceed from there. The law of attraction had taught me something similar through this mantra: I manifest easily and quickly. The issue is that mantras alone will not shift years of an embedded belief system. Sometimes, you have to take additional steps to re-program your brain at the alpha or theta level, which may require a guided process.

TRAINING IS IMPORTANT. PRACTICE IS MORE IMPORTANT.

On day 28, the instructor reminded us of the different types of meditations we had been introduced to, as well as their purposes. He also said that we could continue to use the audios he’d created, but that would be like “using a crutch.” Instead, we should be practicing the meditations on our own, three times a day for the next three months.

This idea of practice made sense to me. When I attend yoga class, it is to learn how to put my body in a parasympathetic state, so that when I am off my mat, I can practice being calm, as opposed to spiraling into an abyss of anxiety or anger. Training provides us with the tools necessary to live life. The same can be said about therapy sessions and workouts. Unless you have a major issue with your mind or body, I don’t think you’re meant to be in therapy for life or to be working out with a physical trainer until death. We’re supposed to learn lessons and then go practice healthier ways of being as a means to support ourselves and others.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on any or all of this.

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