Day 6 Home with a sore throat - meditation journaling

[aces0730]

I actually did some journaling during my break at work yesterday, and later I noticed a sore throat and cold symptoms coming on. I do hold a great deal of anger with not getting the permanent position after putting in two years, funny that I became sick after writing that or I just picked up a virus. Normally I would have gone to work with a cold, but I wouldn't want to spread anything.

As for my ankle, I am seeing some improvement. I am still having stiffness. I started doing more on the elliptical and ballet warm ups which felt good.

I tried doing the self meditation, but could feel my mind wandering, worrying about work, and such. So I cheated and went to you tube and found some meditation videos. I sat back, took deep breaths, and listened to the sound of the waves and I felt more peaceful and my mind did quiet down. I know that I can beat this TMS. Why is it just so hard?

Anyway, I am drinking tea with honey and I am not really hungry. I haven't had a cold in about 4 years. So I guess I was pretty healthy. The only thing I would get was something called labrythitis. I would go to bed perfectly normal and would wake up with the room spins and losing my cookies. My comparison is like a hangover without the fun or stupidity of having too many fruity drinks that go down easily the night before. That made me laugh because the last time I got hungover was 18 years ago at a wedding. I swore I would never do it again, and I haven't since.

Needless to say, I am staying in bed and hoping that my husband and son don't catch my germs.

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

They say starve a cold, feed a fever. You probably got the cold and sore throat because you have been stressed and angry about not getting the job you felt you deserved. That happened to my older brother when he thought he would be promoted to head of his accounting department at a big insurance firm,
but the job went to the boss' son and my brother had to train him!

Hot tea with honey and rest will help your cold go away. And add a little cider vinegar if you have some. Chicken soup is still one of the best things for a cold. Tell your husband and son to wash their hands often so they don't catch any germs from cups or other things you may touch. Change of seasons often bring on colds. I wish people with colds would do what you are doing... stay home and rest. Stress weakens the immune system and we get colds.
I hated my job years ago and had a cold every couple of weeks. I quit and like my job since then and almost never have a cold.

 

[mike2014]

I tried doing the self meditation, but could feel my mind wandering, worrying about work, and such. So I cheated and went to you tube and found some meditation videos. I sat back, took deep breaths, and listened to the sound of the waves and I felt more peaceful and my mind did quiet down. I know that I can beat this TMS. Why is it just so hard?

Wow, I've just watched day 1 of the mindfulness summit and they raised the exact point.

Professor Mark Williams mentioned that people shouldnt worry if their mind wonders when meditating. Meditation is not about clearing your mind, mind wandering is actually needed to practice mindfullness and this will give you thoughts that you can consciously practice on, ie be aware of thoughts without being judgemental.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

I loved listening to Mark Williams this morning, and I learned several really cool things about mindfulness that I didn't know.

Aces, Mike is right, because beating up on yourself for mind-wandering is counter-productive. Your ocean sounds are not cheating, they are perfectly good tools to use for meditation especially if you can practice serene breathing and keep doing a body scan to maintain full relaxation. I'm sure there are yogis who can keep a completely blank mind for hours without any tools at all, but neuroscience has already proved that that type of extreme meditation is not at all necessary to achieve positive changes in the brain.

More importantly for the work we're doing for our TMS, the thoughts that you're having as your mind wanders will tell you a lot about yourself and the types of things that your subconscious brain is obsessing about. Once you become more familiar with them, it's easier to let them go. The more you practice bringing your attention back to the present during meditation (which simply means paying attention to the ocean sounds and/or your breathing) the better you will get at it, and you'll find that you can do it any time. I'm starting to do it more often during the day - taking a deep breath, letting go of the background self-talk, and being present with whatever I'm doing, even if it's just brushing my teeth.

Mark Williams had a great example of this in his presentation. It's not too late to sign up, but his audio is only available until midnight PST tonight, then it's on to Day 2! (the registration link is in my signature line).