Speaking of Meditation…A Note of Self-Awareness

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“To meditate means to go home to yourself. Then you know how to take care of things that are happening inside of you, and you know how to take care of the things that happen around you.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Recently eight-year-old Miss O has chosen to do some meditation in the bedroom while I’m reading to four-year-old Mr. D. Since the bedtime routine could use any injection of calm possible, I’m all for it.

The first night she tried it, she’d sat for about 90 seconds. Then she popped up and said as she walked by me, “Do things you’ve forgotten to do pop into your mind when you meditate?”

“Hello, have you met the inside of my brain?” I wanted to quip.

On the second night she tried, she sat for about five minutes before joining Mr. D and me in our little reading nook. When Mr. D started a little shoving, she calmly said something like, “Oh, I’m so glad I meditated because otherwise I’d be all [switch to impatient and angry voice] ‘Mr. D, cut it out. You are being so awful.’ “

I had to look away to hide my grin. Congratulations to Miss O for managing in one sentence to be smug about her practice, self-aware of what she shouldn’t say, and say it anyway. Goodness knows I’ve been guilty of all three so my chuckle was both knowing and self-deprecating.

[Note to self: spiritual practices usually work better when they come with keeping the heart open and the mouth shut.]

(featured photo from Pexels)

57 thoughts on “Speaking of Meditation…A Note of Self-Awareness”

    1. Hee, hee. I might suggest that the brain of an 8-year-old might be easier to tame than our old things but I’m pretty sure comparison is another thing we aren’t supposed to do. 🙂

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  17. I love how your kids are learning the basics of mindfulness practice. This is so amazing, Wynne – and the smugness is cute at that age! 😆

    Enjoy your weekend together. I can’t believe Christmas is 3 weeks away.

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  23. “Do things you’ve forgotten to do pop into your mind when you meditate?” haha! Oh, do they ever. I encourage my clients to turn those thoughts into colors and move on. Sometimes we will later turn them into works of art, or work on colorful breathing, but it’s all in the letting go…

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