With the end of Thanksgiving a lot of us tend to feel winter has now started, although official winter is still about a month away. Whether you live in an area with seasons or not, the symbolism of winter remains the same. You will likely experience some colder weather and some shortages or increases in prices of certain fruits and vegetables as they become more scarce or have to be harvested on the other side of the equator. In nature, things go inside the earth for hibernation to protect themselves from the cold. In culture though we tend to be busier than ever at this time! Holiday shopping and eating, visiting loved ones and purchasing gifts for everyone you know, winter feels like anything but a time of slow and internal reflection if you are part of society. Yet the world around us beckons us to take time to reflect on ourselves. The nights grow longer and colder, the heart grows softer with the nostalgia of memories from our own childhoods or pasts as we watch our loved ones and small children experience the holidays. Beneath all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is a soft but persistent beckoning to look within ourselves. To help realize this, we will walk you through a meditation to get you to perform a brief soul searching.
Go to your quiet place and give yourself 30 minutes to be alone for this exercise. Get your favorite writing implements and get comfortable. Once you are in place, give yourself several cleansing breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. With each breath feel your body relax more and more until you finally feel you are in a good spot to begin. Open your eyes and ask yourself the following questions.
1- Who am I?
This is such a short question, but such a complicated one. Write the first things that come to mind, good and bad. Don't write this as who you wish you were or as if someone is going to read this. Just let your mind freely explore the question.
2- Am I happy with who I am? Why or why not?
Again, a brief but complicated question. If after reading your answer on the top you feel disappointed on some aspects start here. Or if you are more of a start with the good news sort of person you can begin with the things that made you happy and why.
3- What do I want?
What are your goals in life? Write down what you desire, even the things that feel unbelievable or too far fetched. Let yourself write here free of your own personal judgments on yourself.
Once you have completed these exercises answer the same questions again, do this 3 times back to back. The purpose is to find different answers to each of these questions as a way to explore your deeper desires in a fuller way. We are trying to break down walls and barriers that we hold even in our own thoughts of ourselves. We are not trying to impress ourselves or others here, let yourself go on dark paths, cocky paths, don't sterilize yourself or limit yourself on what you think you ought to be or ought to want. Don't limit and don't try to fit in, simply try to find the root of yourself. Try to work quicker and quicker each round to unlock subconscious thoughts that you are perhaps too afraid to reveal. We often limit ourselves out of fear of failure or fear of wanting something too nontraditional so the speed can be away to break down your natural barriers. After repeating the set of questions 3 times, review and reflect on your results. This is by no means a goal setting exercise, but simply a way to tap into who we truly are which we may hide from even ourselves. Destroy the pages after they have served you to keep your efforts just for yourself to know.
Reach out to us at info@bullionite.com with any of your questions or comments and visit our blog at https://www.bullionite.com/blog for more meditation and writing exercises!