I learnt about meditation a long while ago. I have dabbled repeatedly in it but never stuck with it. In an attempt to encourage myself to do more meditation a few years ago I made 'practice' my word of the year. I did meditate but it didn't really stick and I still wasn't committed.
A gorgeous friend of mine had an incredible experience with the word 'thrive' last year. Thrive is a word I have toyed with as my word of the year for a few years now but when it has come down to the final decision in December/January time I have shied away from it for various reasons.
This year I sat down and asked myself why I wanted to choose thrive and why I kept not choosing it. I journaled around a lot of things but one thing that stood out for me was the fact that I couldn't thrive because I was so empty inside.
When this year started I felt like my spirit was broken. I was shrinking away from challenges and felt isolated and lonely even in a big crowd of people. I desperately wanted to thrive. I desperately needed to feel better and I wanted my word to guide me towards thriving, hence I thought thrive would be my word. But it felt like pressure, like I "should" thrive. So I asked myself what I needed to thrive and the answer came back that I needed to nourish myself and my family and my marriage in order to even begin to thrive. I could see I had a lot of work ahead of me to get to where I wanted to be but decided to trust my inner voice that comes out when I journal.
I chose nourish.
And what a guide it has been. I feel whole again. I designed my year around nourishing myself, my children, my husband and marriage and my community. I thrive on hosting people, even though I'm exhausted afterwards I love being around people. So I am hosting home ed meet ups and fire circles every month to create a sense of continuity and community in my life. I am focussing on using hand in hand parenting tools to help nourish my relationship with my children and Andy and I are committed to date nights as close to weekly as we can manage.
Giving myself permission to nourish myself has been more challenging. In my learning journey I have discovered meditation, massage, affirmations, gratitude and morning pages. I have learnt to recognise my own passions and now know that I am creative and love painting and learning and zebras and reading and swimming, especially outdoors.
And every day this year I have meditated (I think I've missed two days since I started on 2nd January). It has nourished my mind, body and spirit in ways I could never have imagined. I have added other nourishing self care practices including a gratitude journal but it is the meditation that I find the hardest to fit in and the meditation that gives me most instant results. It is the powerful results that have given me the motivation to continue meditating and to find time to fit it in even when it is hard. I have used lots of different programmes but I repeated the free 10 day headspace meditation series for a long while if you are looking for somewhere to start your own practice. Good luck!
Wishing you incredible health, wealth and happiness with all my love
Vicki xx