Lot long ago I heard
someone described as having a peaceful air about them. To my way of thinking,
that was one of the most complementary adjectives I have heard used to paint
another person. Especially since I was under
a considerable amount of stress at the time.
Most that know me
best might be surprised to learn that I had come to a place where stress was
beginning to affect my life. Like so many predators in our life, stress crept
up on me and had a good solid hold before I had a chance to realize anything
was out of the norm. You see, was like a
snowball, at first I begin to have poor sleep at night. Science tells that
inadequate sleep promotes a certain hormone that craves large meals. So eating
and drinking too much along with not getting enough rest my fitness pretty well
evaporated. So now on top of the original stressors my body begin to not feel or look good
which lead to more stress. …And I’m back
to the top of the circle.
As the saying goes,
“when the student is ready the teacher appears” and as it turns out; there is
an app for that. Like all major questions that we wrestle with, in today's smartphone world I turned toward Google, iBooks, and YouTube in search of a road
towards peace. After several books and
videos that produced enough positive results to motivate more searching I found
Headspace and Andy.
For about 8 weeks I
have been experimenting with Headspace and a couple of Meditation books. Not
the kind of meditation that promise spiritual enlightenment with crystals and candles, but
mindfulness practices that help train the mind to understand the brain more
clearly (read that sentence again). Amazingly, since this journey began, most of
the problems that were causing so much stress have been repaired. I have to acknowledge
a strong correlation to resolving the stressing issues and being able to deal
with them from a new mindful perspective. Also, my fitness is improving again
and my body feels and looks better. Sleep comes easier. So I think maybe I have
discovered that wellness can snowball much the same way stress does.
My purpose for this
writing is not in anyway to be boastful about my own personal journey and problem
resolution. Instead, my hope is for the reader to be encouraged to begin your
own walk without prejudice or judgment, toward mindfulness. Download the
headspace app and give it the 10 days it ask for. If at the end of 10 days you
find it is not for you all you’ll have invested is 100 minutes and about 90 MB of
space on your phone. If however, you land
on the other side of the coin, you can begin to find still waters and blue sky
that will lead to peace. Peace is a good thing.
https://www.headspace.com/
