Some of the answers in these pages took me a decade to meditate my way through. Without that basis, these assignments or stages look very much to you like they would to the vast majority of beginners, or even psychologists for that matter. They are very useful, but without the proper guide helping the process, you must do as I did and put in the effort to truly glean the advantage from a seemingly simple piece of training.
This means you don’t simply do one of these little assignments, it means you also ponder why it has the effect it does. Learn to personalise that fact to you and your life the way I would if you were working directly with me via voice. We would map out how you’re wired and then apply these lessons to the matrix of your experience.
Through a blog I can offer the lesson, but I cannot do the mapping my accident helps me so much with, so that’s up to you. It’s not hard. You know you far better than you realise, you just never really ask yourself. But even though it’s easy and even fun, it does require your active awareness of your process. Remember that.
Today our assignment is very simple. We’re going to make sure we laugh and laugh as hard as we can find our way to do, so you might want to set up some backups too. The laughing will rather obviously help you feel good. It’ll release stress, oxygenate your blood and it will connect you with others, even if those others are on a screen. Obviously all good news.
What you want to stay aware of and meditate on, is the actual feeling of living with this assignment. You want to feel yourself move through your day feeling this assignment as an empty basket that needs filling before the end of the day. You want it to feel as much a part of your day as everything else on your schedule. You want to make the maintenance of your mental health something you think of on a continual basis.
Stay as conscious as possible today. Note the feeling of having this responsibility, and feel what it feels like to prioritise your soul instead of your wallet or your ego. Find your laughs, and if you’re getting near the end of the day and still haven’t laughed, then watch the video below and it will automatically activate your sympathetic responses and you will laugh too. And when you’re done, take a moment to really consider how much better you feel afterwards. And then ask why you don’t have this goal each and every day.
peace. s
Scott McPherson is an Edmonton-based writer, public speaker, and mindfulness facilitator who works with individuals, companies and non-profit organizations locally and around the world.
A serious childhood brain injury lead Scott to spend his entire life meditating on the concepts of thought, consciousness, reality and identity. It made others as strange to him as he was to them. When he realized people were confused by their own over-thinking, Scott began teaching others to understand reality. He is currently CBC Radio Active’s Wellness Columnist, as well as a writer, speaker and mindfulness instructor based in Edmonton, AB where he still finds it strange to write about himself in the third person.
