Climbing the Wall

Om

climbingthewall — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:41:19 +0000

Despite my lack of blog posts, I have been making great strides on the path towards balance and happyness. Having experienced many changes, I’m going to write about the one I have found to be the most useful and all encompassing; meditation. Well over a year ago I purchase mala beads from…

http://www.yogabasics.com/japamalabeads/japamala.html

I knew I needed a little help meditating at the beginning and not only does counting the beads keep me focused, they are beautiful to wear. I committed to meditate every day for 40 days. Tradition says that 40 days of prayer/meditation infuses the beads with powers. It’s a time frame long enough to envoke some serious reflection, without being so long that it dooms me to fail. I had purchased a turqoise jasper and bone mala. Here’s the little blurb about it

“Turquoise Jasper is a nurturing and peaceful stone that is said to promote gentleness, tranquility, comfort, wholeness, and healing. It is believed to stabilize and balance the emotions and is also known for it’s protective powers to drive away evil spirits.”

As you can see, balancing my life has been a goal for sometime. I created a nightly ritual to inspire a peaceful atmosphere. I gently light candles around my my sand Buddha filled with negative energy absorbing crystals and rose quartz. I pull my mala out of a special drawstring bag and take a deep breath. Then I repeat my mantra 108 times, passing a bead between my fingers for each repetition. I feel relaxed and blissful afterwards which prepares me to reflect upon my day. What did I do to help someone today? What did I do that was negative? Being mindful of both improves progress and helps eliminate peace draining behaviors that I didn’t even know I had like talking negative about someone. The odd thing is, my hyper cat curls up next to me as soon as I start and that’s where she calmy waits for me to finish my repetitions.

Sometimes I think what I’m saying sounds a little too intense or bizarre. I find myself explaining that I’m not a new age hippy. Isn’t that something we all do? “I’m not a hardcore feminist” or “I’m a vegetarian but…” I think we fear that people are going to criticize what tools we use to improve our lives. Why do we feel like we owe anyone an explanation? I think if something helps us connect with our God, our body, our community and so on…how could it be bad? I’m going to try to explain what helps me without making excuses for it. That’s my NEW goal.

The benefits have been more than emotional. In the 27 days I have participated in my meditation challenge I have lost 6 lbs! It might seem small to you, but I have attended Christmas parties and kept it off. When you are praying for awareness in general, a lot of things come to light that you didn’t expect. I was eating so much food; 2-4 servings at once! The idea of hungry or full wasn’t a consideration. Now I look at food a little differently. Will it make me feel better, or worse? Will it nurture my body or hurt it? For me, even asking myself those questions is a pretty big deal. Saying ”no” to bad food just makes me plain proud.

Trying

climbingthewall — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:25:44 +0000

I’m going to…

1) Take time each day to quiet my mind (meditate).
2) Eat a colorful, flavorful diet.
3) Engage in daily exercise that enhances flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular fitness.
4) Sleep soundly at night.
5) Eliminate what is not serving me.
6) Cultivate loving, nurturing relationships.
7) Perform work that awakens my passion.

Ready…GO!

Living in EL

climbingthewall — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:06:11 +0000

Living in East Lansing is absolutely wonderful. My friends are back so I actually have stuff to do and the city has a lot to offer. Every thing is within walking distance which is one of the things that made me so happy in France. I’m seriously broke but I think as I get better at managing my money, everything should be alright. This is exactly where I ought to be and that’s a wonderful feeling.

Global Citizenship

climbingthewall — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:05:28 +0000

I have been making a conscious effort to become more politically and economically aware in terms of global issues. I have generally viewed people that studied economics money hungry and since striking it rich is never my motive for anything, I avoided it. Now I realize the true value of it; that being knowledgeable about a global market can help millions of people. Money makes the world turn and knowing how to use it is a very advantageous skill. I read an article in Time about what Bill Gates calls creative capitolism and it completely reinforced my previous albeit hardly novel thought that companies can benefit fincancially from being accessible to all kinds of people. Despite the economic struggles our country presently faces, it has made me a very optimistic money person.

Gracie

climbingthewall — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:45:08 +0000

I decided to jump on craigslist to search for a cat after visiting the shelter on a regular basis for well over two months. I found one and brought it home on a trial period only to discover is was evil. We are talking “afraid to sleep with your door open because the cat might very well kill you in your sleep evil”. After returning the cat the man said to look at “Gracie” a shelter pet being held at Petsmart. I was looking at another cat and then asked someone to get out “Gracie”. She came out running, straight to my lap and snuggled up to me. I went home to think it through but came back only ten minutes after being home realizing I couldn’t take the chance that someone else would get her. I realize now that it was never really a choice because she chose me and all the crazy thing I went through to find her were totally worth it.

Now I’m worried about myself becase the other day I got a little choked up seeing how happy she was playing in my living room. At the shelter she was 1/2 off because she’d been there for over 2 months (which is a VERY long time for a kitten). She has no behavioral problems, she was just too old for the kitten people to want her and too young for the cat people to want her. It’s terrible to think about. I don’t even really consider myself a cat person, but I love her dearly and I’m glad she’s mine.

If you don’t live purposefully, you live by accident

climbingthewall — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:43:06 +0000

I have signed up with www.43things.com in order to motivate myself to follow through with my goals. The point is to continually better myself by challenging myself to improve. Maybe we have similar goals. Here are a few…

pay off my debt 1735 people
go on a road trip with no predetermined destination 16026 people
read the modern library top 100 novels 1 person
get a masters degree 2385 people
live on an island 149 people
hike the appalachian trail 1397 people
Learn American Sign Language 444 people
visit all 7 continents 1022 people

There’s a comforting sense of solidarity that comes with knowing others share your bizarre goals. Give it a try…

Perhaps the best plan, is no plan

climbingthewall — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:47:31 +0000

It seems as though every great adventurer knows that most of the truly amazing moments of one’s life won’t be calculated or sought out…but will happen upon us. I just finished watching Into the Wild and it spoke to the wanderer in me. Am I too eager for the adventure? Or the escape? What am I even looking for?

The Times They are A-Changin’

climbingthewall — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:18:10 +0000

A lot of us suffer from a great divide between the mind and body. Stress and discontent torture us from the inside out. Too often we get our yearly physicals, throw a few salads on the table and think that we are living healthy lives. Taking the healthy road is no easy task. We overlook that health is not merely physical, but a combination of factors that include mental health, spiritual healthy and even financial health.

I want to feel centered, so I’m seeking balance. Not perfection, not great success, but a sense of inner peace. Undoubtably, this path is sure to be full of walls to climb, thus the title of this blog. With information and a sense of unity we can help each other find these things and offer mutual support. That is why I am choosing to share.

This is a blog of my journey, but I encourage you all to do the same. Create a blog and see what happens. Hold yourself accountable for the changes you want to make and get started. Good luck!

Hello world!

climbingthewall — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:01:45 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!