I want to form a habit of meditation, but it’s going to take a lot of mental intention for this. It’s gonna take effort. I mentioned this in a previous post, where I said that meditation can help me lengthen my attention span. I also talked about the book Girl Seeks Bliss, which I am now more than halfway through and I am still loving it. I can see that being something I read over and over again.

For the past week or so I’ve been struggling to control my IBS, with various issues arising. Besides my usual problems, on Tuesday I was burping a lot with a yeasty aftertaste. Yesterday and today I’ve had a lump in my throat like I have to burp, but when I do burp it doesn’t get rid of the gas bubble, and from what I’ve found online this is probably acid reflux. It hurts a lot. 😦 Add to that a dental filling Monday and a flat tire Wednesday, and I had a pretty crummy week.

So today, while waiting for my Mom to pick me up and drive me to her house for the day (two hours round trip) because I wasn’t feeling up for the drive, I was sitting on the deck and it was a beautiful day. I closed my eyes and the meditation came very naturally based on my surroundings. First I listened to the birds, focusing in turn on each of the six or seven different bird calls I heard. I felt the sun on my skin, and then also felt a cool breeze on my face. The mantra just came to me as well. I breathed in, and on the outbreath I said “I feel the sun.” Another breath, and “I hear the birds.” Another breath, and “I feel the wind.” I repeated these three lines as I continued to focus on my breathing, and on each line I also focused on either the sun, birds, or wind.

I got distracted a couple times with other sounds, and opened my eyes to see people and what they were doing. But then I closed my eyes and tried again to focus. I probably only lasted about five minutes or so, including distractions, but I think that’s a good start.

For those few minutes I was able to ignore my throat pain a bit, which was good. I want to try a little meditation again before bed, which is very soon, and hopefully that will help me sleep. Hopefully creating a habit of meditating will help my IBS as well.