I wish I knew this about meditation and mindset shift early enough
Using the beginning of the week to practice meditation, alleviate stress, set intentions, and live in mindfulness 🧘♀️
My name is Rosemary Powell, I am a licensed therapist and owner at Comfort Circle MFT. I am located in NYC. I am a wife and mother of three beautiful children in different stages of life.
As I assist more families, I have learned that many are dealing with pressures that cause stress, which can lead to anxiety, and sickness, and that can lead to further distress in other aspects of their already stressful lives.
People who know me, know I am very intentional in my work.
Before I started my own private practice, I spent so many years working jobs and constantly feeling underpaid and under or overvalued to the point where I felt abused.
Work gradually became something I did not look forward to.
It was so bad that every Friday, I dreaded coming to work on Monday, so much so that I spent a lot at home during the pandemic, with nowhere to go, moping about how I got here, what would happen if I left my comfortable salary, and what will become of my career aspirations. The thoughts went on and on.
Until!!! I said I can’t keep doing this to myself. So! I started to think about all the things I could do if I would just save and create the life I wanted.
It felt liberating, to the point I would close my eyes, take deep breaths and imagine the world I wanted to see. When I would come out of these daydream episodes, I realized, Not only did I calm my racing thoughts for the upcoming week. I also felt less stressed, more optimistic, and motivated to go and create the life I wanted for myself. And so I did!!
The biggest thing I realized was that I was practicing guided meditation. My therapist always tells me to meditate because of all the benefits that come with it.
I will be like yeah! Ima do it, MEH! LOL! Yeah, It’s funny now. I’m glad I adopted the practice on my own because I heavily depended on it to get me through the week.
What is meditation?
Meditation is an intentional practice that involves mindfulness, focus and awareness. The practice of meditation involves a certain level of calm and it helps one’s mental and emotional health to feel calm, stable, connected.
Put simply, meditation is the act of training your mind to be more aware.
The beautiful thing about meditation is that you can practice it anywhere, either in that small corner of your room, on the beach, in the gym, and lots of other places.
The key element to a successful meditation practice is a calm and serene environment.
So be sure that where ever you deem as fit to meditate is enabling.
Here are a few things meditating did for me
1. It reduced my stress levels:
One of the most causes of stress in an average adult is a result of lack of ability to strike a reasonable work-life balance.
If you are anything like me who is very intentional about her work and loves to work, you will agree that finding a balance can be a major struggle.
But in order not to learn the hard way, it is important to be in tune with your body and always listen when your body or mind is telling you to press pause. And that is exactly what meditation does to you.
Meditation helps to release tensions that have been built up and relaxes the muscles which will help reduce the risk of burnout, anxiety, and depression.
2. It gave me a clearer perspective:
when you are meditating consistently, with emphasis on consistency, your body is in tune with your state of mind. It allows you to step aside from the rowdiness of your mind and see things from a newer and clearer perspective.
It doesn’t really have anything to do with spirituality, but yes, it is that deep. And it made a lot of things start to make sense to me.
3. It helped me stay focused:
I’m a mother of 3 children at different stages of their lives, and by implication, a caregiver, a wife, an entrepreneur, and a CEO, and for those who know, you know that each of these is full-time jobs on their own.
And a girl sometimes needs a break right? Hell yeah!!!
Meditating helps you maintain focus and be cautious about worrying about things especially when it is beyond your control.
4. It helps you to be more self-aware:
One of the most essential benefits of mindful meditation is that it allows you to be more self-aware. Self-awareness means that you are more mindful of the things you allow in your space, your emotions, and your triggers, and you understand when it’s time to let go of anything that does not bring you peace.
5. You become more confident in taking life’s decisions:
Meditating helps you become intentionally self-aware and boosts your esteem levels which will help you become confident in taking life’s decisions. That is because you have had time to sit and think and reflect on these decisions and it’s possible outcomes.
One important lesson I have learned is that if I keep meditating, it will continue to allow me to deal with difficult situations without injuring myself. Then, I started to use the weekend to gear up for the beginning of the week and set my intentions of what I wanted my week to feel and look like. Silly?! I thought so too, but being a therapist and understanding positive psychology, I believed it worked. And so, here I go setting my intentions and hoping for the best.
My mindset shifted, my outlook shifted, and I felt more gelled into life. The way it should be despite the challenges I face each day as a mom, wife, worker, and friend.
I had accomplished the clarity needed to understand what I value and get there. I built up my client caseload, quit my job, and went into private practice.
Conclusion: Adding guided meditation to your routine is a decision you cannot regret, and it is very key to maintaining a stable mental health and becoming more self aware. Make it a habit to be consistent in doing it, just as you would do any other thing, it takes discipline.
I am so excited about my journey that I want to share it with you and give you mindfulness Mondays. A blog where my mission is to help you use the beginning of the week to alleviate stress, set intentions, and live in mindfulness, learn how to meditate and practice guided meditation.
It will change your life if you let it but!!
Yes, there is a but! You have to continue to develop your practice. I will share my experience, give you tips and advice, recommend great meditation music and maybe share some great conversations with like-minded people to keep you motivated on your journey. Now! How does that sound?
So join me on Mindful Mondays, where I will be releasing a series of content that will help put you on a path to creating the reality you want to see through mindfulness.
I would love to hear from you all, please feel free to share, how do you transform your meditation lifestyle?
P.S. If you are in NYC I encourage you to book a session with me if you would like more guidance around adopting a more mindful lifestyle.
Visit comfortcirclemft.com for more details.
