Photo Credit Max Vs
THE BIG SIT
BY HEATHER REID
n January of last year, I
wrote about my
then-new habit of
Loving-Kindness meditation. Throughout the tumult that was 2021, I resolved to be gentle to myself through this practice, and I committed to a year of once-daily meditation.
And I did.
I am proud to say that I recently completed a full 365-day stretch of daily practice. 52 weeks straight. Sometimes I only managed to fit it 5 minutes just before bed while brushing my teeth; other times, I found 15 to 30-minute gaps in the day where I could focus. But the practice of the practice is something I’ve grown to treasure.
I’m not religious, but solitude and silence feel spiritual. One particular meditation I frequently do encourages you to sit with your feelings and just… feel whatever you are feeling. In the past, issues would stick in my head and distract me for days (and nights). Now I run it past a framework of mindfulness - literally sit with myself and feel what I feel, as deeply as I need to - until I let it pass.
Recently I’ve been dealing with a challenging personality in my professional life. I find this person’s communication style off-putting, and I was angry and upset during and after our interactions. I took this issue to my meditation practice to figure it out. I stepped away from the personality issue (and blaming him) and investigated how it made me feel. I figured out that his style was triggering all sorts of insecurities in me, primarily that old friend imposter syndrome with a healthy dose of general self-doubt.
I