I do not tell my personal story very often, usually only during a Mediation trainings, like this. It is a difficult story to tell, it may help to create a vision of why meditation is so very important in everyone’s life.
I have called myself a crisis meditator for most of my adult life. Meditating whenever life got a little crazy, like having three natural births without drugs of any kind, having two jobs, going to school full time and raising a family all at the same time. All great choices and I would not change a single thing about my life, as I have had many valuable lessons along the way.
About 15 years ago I was searching the internet for different types of meditation, something that would take me out of this world, as I wanted to experience something galactic, extraordinary or anything exceptional. I found an article on Mantra’s and decided to give “So Hum” a try and much to my amazement it worked. That was the key piece I was searching for! Well, at least it brought me to realize that mediation was an everyday practice and the ecstatic feeling of peace and calm I experienced during meditation was my proof. A few years later I found the Chopra center, received my very own personal mantra and later became a certified instructor in Primordial Sound Meditation.
About few years ago, I went through a major life change. My aging parents were deteriorating at what seemed like a rapid pace. We tried to keep them in their home as long as possible, but with my Mother being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s it became increasingly impossible. So, in September of 2010 my parents made the decision to move into a nursing home. In January, 2011 my Mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer, had surgery and began chemo treatments. Three months later my father-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and had only a few months to live.
In September of 2011, my father dies. Two days after my fathers funeral my Mother became ill with what the Dr. believed was a stroke, they asked that my family gather to spend the next few days with her as they did not expect her to live. I move her back to the nursing home to die, she struggles for months to stay alive and in January, 2012 she makes her trip home as her soul left her body.
In the meantime, my father and mother-in-law are very busy with treatments, Dr. appointments, living part time in another town, etc. My mother-in-law also now has Alzheimer’s and my family begins the ups and downs with this disease. In between all the illness, I retire from the school systems and purchase my mother-in-laws business as she no longer is able to handle the stress of a retail store. In March of 2013, my father-in-law recedes to the cancer and his soul journeys home.
At the family Christmas get together, my sister-in-law asks me how I can handle so much. What is it that you do that keeps you from going crazy? I tell her I meditate twice a day and that I give continuous thanks for this journey and my experiences. Without my meditation practice I am not sure where I would be today and that I am so happy I chose to learn to meditate. I am very passionate about the path I am on and I know first hand how mediation has helped me in my life.
So for all these reasons I share this passion with you! Please join me on my Meditation Challenge. Watch for further e-mails and join my Facebook group by clicking this link Blissful Living.
