{"id":4670,"date":"2021-06-10T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/?p=90090"},"modified":"2021-06-10T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T15:00:00","slug":"a-skeptic-meditates-for-10-straight-days-heres-what-happened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/?p=4670","title":{"rendered":"A Skeptic Meditates for 10 Straight Days: Here\u2019s What Happened"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"853\" height=\"1280\" alt=\"A Skeptic Meditates for 10 Straight Days: Here's What Happened | Wit &amp; Delight\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1.jpg 853w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-16x24.jpg 16w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-24x36.jpg 24w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-32x48.jpg 32w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-560x840.jpg 560w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-600x900.jpg 600w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 853px) 100vw, 853px\" class=\"wp-image-90120 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1.jpg\"><noscript><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"853\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1.jpg\" alt=\"A Skeptic Meditates for 10 Straight Days: Here's What Happened | Wit &amp; Delight\" class=\"wp-image-90120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1.jpg 853w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-16x24.jpg 16w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-24x36.jpg 24w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-32x48.jpg 32w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-560x840.jpg 560w, https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GhostTransition33880_Ghosting_1-600x900.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 853px) 100vw, 853px\"><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><figcaption>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.laurenkrysti.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lauren Krysti<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">When it comes to being still, I\u2019m not what one would consider an overachiever. I vividly remember the first day of my first post-college \u201cbig girl\u201d job\u2014by 10:00 am, I thought to myself, \u201cWait, so I just sit. All day. That\u2019s it? I sit?\u201d So, I began a rigorous daily cycle of drinking tons of water simply so I could hit up the water cooler and refill my jug. I made it a point to learn all the names of every single one of my co-workers and would stop to ask about their pets and their overwatered vegetable gardens, then I\u2019d make a bathroom run, fill up my water bottle, and make another bathroom run. You get the gist. And, nearly fifteen years into my career, I\u2019m only slightly less antsy (unless there\u2019s a <em>Real Housewives<\/em> marathon in which case, you have my full, fidgeting-less attention).<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve toyed with the idea of meditation before, thanks to the helpful nudge of my therapist, a friend, or my husband, who, all zen-like, happens to practice regularly. I admire and even envy people with any measurable amount of chill and meditation had always seemed, to me, a nice thought, but also very\u2026what\u2019s the word? Indulgent? I\u2019d just\u2026sit? And not be productive (or, at least, by the overachieving American millennial standards I\u2019ve been held to, which is another essay entirely)? On this very topic, my therapist once asked me <a href=\"https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/2019\/09\/the-things-id-do-if-i-wasnt-afraid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">what I was so afraid of<\/a> and I couldn\u2019t really give a straight answer. It\u2019s not that I was afraid, it\u2019s just that I didn\u2019t really get the point and, at the time, wasn\u2019t terribly concerned with trying to get the point. I think, too, I was worried of boredom, of sitting with my own thoughts for too long, of what would creep in and if I\u2019d be able to rest with it\u2014to catch it, address it, then set it free again.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\" readability=\"10\">\n<p>I was worried of boredom, of sitting with my own thoughts for too long, of what would creep in and if I\u2019d be able to rest with it\u2014to catch it, address it, then set it free again.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Before this dedicated ten days I speak of, the closest I\u2019d been to a meditative state was a few solid miles into a run. My mind would melt, my thoughts would part like heavy clouds, my body would concern itself with nothing but the cyclical rhythm of my body carrying me through space. Until recently, it\u2019s the only time I\u2019d ever felt a sense of true calm and relief. The only time I could muzzle my brain and its cacophony of worry, to-dos, excitement, or heartache. Just my breath, my feet, and my unwillingness to call it quits after mile six, or seven, or ten to go back to my otherwise boisterous brain.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019d think, after such a mostly enchanting experience (shin splints aside), that I\u2019d try to recreate it in other ways as often as I could.&nbsp;Then again, you\u2019d think wrong.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t really care to admit this, but it may have taken the point-blank smack of 2020 (you too, 2021), the stillness by brute force, to get me to consider putting some of that sudden stop to use. And I don\u2019t mean \u201cuse\u201d in terms of productivity, but maybe the introspection I, personally, needed to literally sit with.<\/p>\n<p><em>So, out of wine and ideas, I decided to just give meditation a try. For ten days, ten minutes a day. Just to see what would happen.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>My first rendezvous was uncomfortable. I selected a class, at random, on an app (which, to me, seemed counterintuitive, but options are limited here, folks), perched myself up all tall and straight, and lamented to myself about how incredibly corny the music was. My attempt was as half-focused as it was half-hearted, but it was technically an attempt.<\/p>\n<p>The second day, I promised to give it a solid try, crystal harp melodies and all. I kept my eyes closed the entire time. I focused on my breath. I tried actively to not think about my next meeting, dinner plans, or if my toddler had pooped his pants. Mostly, I realized that this whole acquittal of my thoughts thing was very hard for me. I wasn\u2019t good at it.<\/p>\n<p>And that, right there\u2014the getting it wrong, not being good at it, not getting it\u2014it turns out, was the part I\u2019d been leery of this whole time. I told myself that maybe, just maybe, that\u2019s why they call meditation a practice. The practice of stillness, of complete presence, is required over and over and over again.<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere in the midst of my ten-day experiment, I chose a meditation with a focus on acceptance. The instructor (Newb question, but do you call them instructors? Am I doing this right?) didn\u2019t say much, but at one point asked the very pointed question, \u201cIs there anything that you\u2019re having a difficult time accepting?\u201d And I cracked. I poured open, spilling salty tears and snot all over myself and it took some time to pick up the mess. Truth is, it was a clemency of chaos that was long overdue.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\" readability=\"10\">\n<p>It took doing absolutely nothing but sitting, quiet, nervous, and somewhat bitter, to learn I couldn\u2019t outsmart a single one of the unacceptable items on my list of bothers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>At that particular time, there was a lot I couldn\u2019t accept. There\u2019s a lot I still can\u2019t accept. Too much to type here on this ever-expansive internet, in fact. There was also a lot that I was fooling myself into thinking I could put up with if only I outworked, outran, outdid. And it took doing absolutely nothing but sitting, quiet, nervous, and somewhat bitter, to learn I couldn\u2019t outsmart a single one of the unacceptable items on my list of bothers.<\/p>\n<p>My ten days are up and what have I learned? Maybe meditation isn\u2019t so bad after all. I don\u2019t expect I\u2019ll be diligent enough to continue daily (I\u2019d still rather run), but I\u2019ll be adding it in as often as I can. I don\u2019t expect, either, that I\u2019ll have an incredibly influential meditative practice every time, with such laser-pointed questions. Though, it\u2019s been proven to help me unclench my jaw, increase my self-awareness, and protect my peace. Some decent perks, if you ask me. So, consider this skeptic pretty much converted; in her amateur and still quite energetic way.<\/p>\n<div class=\"saboxplugin-wrap\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemprop=\"author\">\n<div class=\"saboxplugin-gravatar\"><a href=\"https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/author\/aprilswinson\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt itemprop=\"image\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/\/2019\/05\/AprilSmasal.jpeg\"><noscript><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/content\/uploads\/\/2019\/05\/AprilSmasal.jpeg\" alt itemprop=\"image\"><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"saboxplugin-desc\" readability=\"11.5\">\n<div itemprop=\"description\" readability=\"18\">\n<p>April (Swinson) Smasal spent her formative years in Wyoming, where her career options were limited to rodeo queen or writer. Foregoing the lure of an impressive belt buckle collection, she opted for the word thing. Now, she\u2019s a copywriter and writer-writer living in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband, Nick, baby boy, Hank Danger and very cute-slash-spoiled French Bulldog, Arnold E. Biscuits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/witanddelight.com\/2021\/06\/a-skeptic-meditates-for-10-straight-days-heres-what-happened\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo by Lauren Krysti When it comes to being still, I\u2019m not what one would consider an overachiever. I vividly remember the first day of my first post-college \u201cbig girl\u201d job\u2014by 10:00 am, I thought to myself, \u201cWait, so I just sit. All day. That\u2019s it? I sit?\u201d So, I began a rigorous daily cycle [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4603,4604,2642,4581,4605,95,40,362,96,4606,3430,3433,464,215,466,4607,4608,4601,4588,4589,101],"class_list":["post-4670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-april-smasal","tag-awareness","tag-busy","tag-calm","tag-do-nothing","tag-focus","tag-health-wellness","tag-meditation","tag-mental-health","tag-overachieving","tag-peace","tag-quiet","tag-relationship","tag-running","tag-self","tag-sititng","tag-skeptic","tag-staying-still","tag-still","tag-stillness","tag-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozapp.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}