Changing our life from the world we lived in for the past 20+ years was a bold move! It was exciting and invigorating, AND nerve-racking and stressful! Our decision to move SO far away was met with a lot of questions by family and friends, but mostly, we felt encouraged and supported.
Why Not, Right?
Jeremy and I had a lot of space together and spent a ton of time talking about and dreaming about new opportunities. We listened to a lot of podcasts about travel, law of attraction, mindfulness, and becoming entrepreneurs. To be really frank, all of those topics interest me to no end. I could listen to speakers and read books on those topics every day!
I DIGRESS!
As we began to live a different life than what we previously knew (even before coming to the islands), people wondered what was wrong with us. Well, nothing was wrong, but….change isn’t for everybody. Still, we were laser-focused on new opportunities AND at the same time, pretty anxious.
I was working at an alternative high school helping ninth-grade students. As an elective option, they were offered a mindfulness class. A handful of students signed up for it. I was so blown away by their personal growth in the class. These students struggle with all kinds of issues, but they all found a way to put their minds at ease for 50 minutes a day. It was remarkable. They learned about mindfulness and meditation, they visited Zen Buddhist Monastery in Conifer, Colorado, they started with 1 minute of meditation and worked up to much longer periods of time. They read Thich Nhat Hanh in their class.
I started to bring materials home for Jeremy and me, and excitedly described what I was learning as I participated in the class. SO, we committed to a daily meditation practice ourselves. We started by doing quick guided meditations in the morning shortly after waking up. We mostly used an app called Insight Timer, which is available for free and is searchable for different meditations to target different needs (e.g. sleep, productivity, forgiveness, healing, spirituality, stress, anxiety, etc.). The lengths vary for each meditation, anywhere from about 5 minutes to an hour or more.
Within days, we were feeling…more level, I would say.
And from there, we never stopped. Meditation became a daily routine that was good for us as individuals and as a growing couple.
Certainly, we still had very high and excitable moments and of course, we still faced some challenges, but we were so much more positive about everything, and faced our difficulties with much more ease.
I’d like to share the biggest benefits that we experienced, really within a couple of weeks of beginning our practice.
Emotional benefits
We had less stress!!! When you learn mindfulness and practice being in the moment, you become better at compartmentalizing the stress or challenges in your life. Some stress in life is good because it can be a motivator, but other stress can debilitate you if it’s not managed well. We experienced some pretty tough things through this transition. The more we meditated, the more we were able to manage our negative thinking patterns and not let it take over us! Nope, we were in charge.
Meditation helped us feel like we are living a satisfied life! Stop and think about this for a second. If you learn how to focus on the present, you are giving up worrying about the past or the future.
Rather, you are listening to your body, recognizing what is around you at that moment, and finding peace with it. You are satisfied and not wanting for anything.
It’s pretty incredible how much meditating changed our overall mindset, feeling gratitude and recognizing the abundance in our life.
Mental benefits
Through our mindfulness practice, I noticed a significant increase in my attention span and, hand and hand with that, my mental clarity. Meditation trains your attention span to intentionally focus on a particular feeling, sensation, or visualization. Over time, you get better and better at it, like exercising any other muscle.
With a longer attention span comes mental clarity. I noticed a big difference in my creativity and motivation to produce content. I also believe that part of that comes from the overall positive attitude I had that my endeavors could and would be successful! But nonetheless, I was more engaged in what I was doing!
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Physical benefits
The biggest physical benefit I experienced in beginning a regular mindfulness practice was, unquestionably, improved sleep quality!!! Everything we do and are is impacted by our sleep quality. Our metabolism, or energy, our mental clarity, our mood, our appetite, our productivity, our resilience, our physical health, our weight….
Need I go on?
For years, since we were young and first married, Jeremy and I fell asleep to the television. Often it would be the news and terrible stories in our society. When we started our mindfulness practice, we actually didn’t have a TV, so each night, Jeremy and I settle into bed and listen to a guided meditation. Sometimes it would put us to sleep and other times we would make it all the way through the mediation. Regardless, the quality of our sleep changed dramatically, and we were sleeping a solid 7-8 hours without interruption.
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What a journey this has been! Mindfulness and meditation have so many incredible benefits to our overall being! It doesn’t matter what your religion or what your belief system is, mindfulness can and will help you become a better you! You can practice mindfulness anywhere and you don’t need any materials! What a gift to spend a few minutes simply in the present, not the past or the future!
Without a doubt, I am a better me! And I appreciate being in the present!
