It occurred to me recently that in my mad dash to build my internet businesses, I had forgotten or let fall by the wayside some of the most important things I used to do ~ namely, daily affirmations and meditations on what I believe in and my vision for my life and my future.
Over the last few days little things would remind me, little nudges from the universe to get back to basics ~ do the things I did to get here in the first place ~ if I want to continue to grow and succeed.
“But, jeezy creezy!” I thought, “I’m already virtually working two jobs, what with spending every spare minute I don’t spend on teaching, grading, class prep, or answering student email on trying to build an internet business with spit and sealing wax! How am I supposed to find time to write out affirmations and meditate?”
Well, maybe not those exact words, but that was the flavor of my reaction every time the idea of spending some time looking within to reduce my stress and fear and tendency to become weary these days came into my mind.
Then yesterday evening I was clearing files off of my laptop, trying to organize and free up some space (’cause I been downloading a LOT of freebies about internet marketing, niche marketing, affiliate marketing, etc. etc. lately), and I found a freebie I had forgotten I had downloaded ~ it was Dr. Joe Vitale’s “experiment” pdf outlining a 30-day experiment employing intentional meditation.
As I skimmed through it, I remembered why I had downloaded it in the first place (though I didn’t remember when!) and thought: “That would be a good idea (if I had the time).” That part in parentheses wasn’t verbalized in my head but you know it was there.
So I tucked the file up at the top of my screen, where I would see it when I had time to try something like that, and I continued working (read: taking two steps forward and one step back, and one step back, and one step back, when something I was doing by tutorial ~ installing wordpress on my website, it was ~ wasn’t working. Because I was tired, I just kept trying to do the thing that wasn’t working over and over and over ~ ever do that?).
Then one of my favorite TV shows, and one of the few that I actually tape (yes, “tape” on my vcr) came on, and I decided to take a break and watch it. The main plot was interesting to me, as usual, but the sub-plot having to do with Joe (whom I love, because he reminds me so much of James ~ my husband) was what really caught my attention. It had to do with meditation and success.
Well, you don’t have to hit me over the head three times, I can tell ya.
Okay, maybe you do. But as they say, the third time’s a charm ~ so thank you CBS, Medium, Joe (and his cranky old ghost of a father) ~ and most of all, thank you universe ~ for the charm (or kick in the pants!).
This morning, I got up determined to reread Dr. Vitale’s instructions for intentional meditation and put them into practice. Of course I got sucked into other stuff the minute I got on the computer, but when I got tired enough to think about taking a break, I decided now would be a good time to start with the intentional meditation. So I burned a copy of another freebie I got somewhere, an audio file of 15 minutes worth of water sounds, wrote down the intention I wanted to meditate on, went upstairs and began.
It’s not as easy as it sounds, meditation ~ but I’m going to keep doing it (I even put it on my google calendar!), and more importantly, I’m going to believe that it’s working, just as I have always believed in my affirmations ~ and we’ll see where we are in 30 days.
Wish me luck ~ and, if you’re interested, subscribe to my rss feed ~ and I’ll keep you posted.