Become What You Believe – Week 3

I love the daily emails from Oprah and Deepak which provide the centering thought for the day but also sets the intention for meditation. I love how they explain this intention and connect it back to the self. In addition to the daily emails is a weekly email. The email at the end of Week 2 included this:

As we prepare for our third week, in which we’ll bring everything together to help unite the world through belief, we encourage you to reflect on the transformations you’ve experienced so far:

• How have you changed since you began?
• In what ways have your new positive, pure core beliefs been reflected back to you?
• How has expanded awareness of your beliefs changed your relationship with yourself and others?

I don’t really know how to answer these questions. What I can say is I find myself feeling a lot calmer in general. Things are stressful at work so I am stressing at work but with all other areas of my life I have definitely felt at ease. I missed a couple of days towards the end of the week and I really noticed a difference in how I felt and how I acted. On the days I meditated I felt like I came from a place of love and was more loving. On the days that I didn’t I felt like I came from a place of fear but I am glad for these days and for this 21 Day Meditation Experience because it makes me think about what fear based belief I was acting on. So now I think about what the fear is, acknowledge it and think about what core belief I could be acting on instead.

I’ve always lived in my head and not really felt my emotions (until I hold them in for too long that I end up over-emotional). I am working on marrying my head with my heart so I really got a lot out of the Day 17 meditation. The meditation looked at the unifying power of faith and explained:

We have developed an understanding of faith as the shared value of our core beliefs. This experience of faith is felt as love in our hearts. To live our faith is to live as a loving person. That means our life is directed from our loving center, our true self. We do this by finding situations around us where our love can make a difference, and then extending ourselves in acts of love. These acts are done without any thought of receiving something in return. However, this heart-to-heart connection always brings countless benefits to both the giver and receiver.

It was around this time that I came across a lot of blogs and Instagram posts about the power of giving. And today I received this great post from Danielle LaPorte in my inbox. You can read it here.

I had always been such a giving person but then felt like I was always giving and never receiving anything in return or getting taken advantage of. On my self-development journey this year I have been feeling called to give but unsure about how to give and scared about giving too much. But after this meditation I feel like I can let go of that fear and start giving which I truly believe will form part of my new self-care regime. I want to start practicing self-love every day and in doing so I want to fill my cup so much that it overflows so I have no option but to give. With this slow recovery from adrenal fatigue I am finding it hard to fill my cup but I know I will get there. And when I do I know it will make my soul happy to just give.

The meditation for Day 19 was called Faith Heals at the Soul Level and explained:

This experience of the soul is who we are – it is our wholeness. The soul is the source of our joy, truth, beauty, and infinite potential. When we live from this level of life, we are immediately connected to and supported by other souls. We heal and are healed in return.

 I think this pretty much sums up how and why giving will make my soul happy :)

Here’s a summary of the week:

Day 15 – Belief Embraces All Differences

The mantra Sarvatva Namah declares that the wholeness of the universe dwells within our individual consciousness.

Day 16 – Faith Creates a New Reality

The mantra Om Shanti Om settles the emotional body and soothes the heart.

Day 17 – Faith Connects Us Heart-to-Heart

The mantra Aham Prema is an affirmation that your core Self is pure love, and it puts your life energy in resonance with the love principle running through existence.

Day 18 – Faith Guides Our Journey

The mantra Saha Navavatu is the beginning of an invocation asking that our journey of awakening be harmoniously accompanied by others who support us, nourish us, and enlightened us.

Day 19 – Faith Heals at the Soul Level

The mantra Om Sharavana activates the purposeful force of intention to transform present circumstances into favorable opportunities.

Day 20 – Living By the Light of Truth

The mantra Satyame Vijayate affirms that the core truth of life is always victorious.

Day 21 – Beyond Belief Lies True Knowledge

The mantra Om Aieem Hreem makes your mind clearer, stronger, more flexible, and more receptive by opening consciousness to its own true nature.

Bonus Day 22 – Your Path to Wholeness

The mantra Aham Brahmasmi affirms that the true nature of your Self is the wholeness of the universe. Your Being resonates as the truth of cosmic existence.

At the end of the week I received the final weekly email which perfectly summed up that we had learned to:

• shift our beliefs from “us versus them” to “we are one,” so that we recognize our own self in everyone and everything
• find our own truth within that moves us toward love, freedom, and wholeness
• harness the power of belief to guide our spiritual transformation
• ignite the energy of belief into a harmonious force that unites the world in our common humanity

I truly enjoyed and appreciated every day of this 21 Day Meditation Experience and I have definitely felt the benefits of daily meditation. I don’t know how I will go meditating on my own but I am determined to keep my spiritual practice going. I don’t want to go back to using my old apps for guided meditation but I do know I love guided meditation. Maybe I will purchase the 21 Day Meditation Experience and do it all again. I just wish the Australian dollar was stronger right now.

I’d love to hear from you if you did the 21 Day Meditation Experience. What were your thoughts? How did you feel? Or if you already have a strong meditation experience what tips do you have for me? I’d love to hear from you too. Namaste xx

UPDATE: I caught up on some saved emails and videos this morning and one of them was this great email from Marie Forleo which I think perfectly sums up how I want my meditation practice to be. I guess there was a reason I didn’t read the email when it arrived in my inbox earlier this week. I knew I wasn’t ready for it. This morning it was the perfect message. You can have a read here.

And then I received an email from Gabbrielle Bernstein with a link to her beginner’s guide which you can read here.

Become What You Believe – Week 2

Last week I posted about starting the 21 Day Meditation Experience. You can read that post here. Week 1 was about learning how powerful our beliefs our. Week 2 was about learning how to direct these powerful core beliefs and in the first meditation we learn that:

our core beliefs are the most intimate beliefs we hold about ourselves – about who we are and what matters most to us.

I’ve attended workshops or training sessions where I’ve had to list my beliefs or values before and I’ve always struggled to answer this. I think part of it is the perfectionist in me and being scared my beliefs and the ‘wrong’ beliefs. Which ties in with the second part of the problem which is I think too much and don’t trust my heart. I am working to deal with my emotions and marry my head with my heart but it’s hard work. So this week when Deepak started talking core beliefs I started freaking out because I didn’t know what any of my beliefs were, let alone what my core beliefs were. It was like he anticipated my fear because over the next few days Deepak spoke about four core beliefs:

These were beliefs I felt aligned with. But at the same time I was aware that in my head I believe them but in my heart I still have the fear and insecurities that they might not be true. So again I still needed to work on marrying my head with my heart. And with the daily meditations this week I feel like I am finally learning how to. Here’s a summary of the week:

Day 8 – Bringing Core Beliefs to Light

The mantra Ravaye Hum activates the radiance of our spiritual light, expressing our true nature as luminous awareness.

Day 9 – Turning Belief into Power

The mantra Ahrah Kahrah awakens the energy of creativity, transformation, and materialization.

Day 10 – Living from Your Core

The mantra Sampriya Hum brings the pure love of our non-local, immortal Self into our physical, localized Self, establishing the true foundation for self-love and self-worth.

Day 11 – Getting Past Obstacles and Boundaries

The mantra Om Gum Namah integrates your awareness with the infinite organizing power of Nature.

Day 12 – Healing Self-Judgment

The mantra Om Aieem Namah activates the creativity within pure awareness.

Day 13 – Self-Compassion Brings You into the Present

The mantra Karuna Hum helps you develop deep compassion for all living beings, by knowing and experiencing others as part of your own Self.

Day 14 – The Path to Personal Power

The mantra Paramesh Wari Namah invokes the sum total of the creative potential of creation.

I did the Day 13 daily meditation the day after the Paris and Beirut attacks. The focus was compassion and during my meditation I kept thinking of all the lives that had been lost and the lives that had been impacted. I felt the power of that meditation and later that morning I came across this post on my Instagram feed. Nourish Melbourne and 1 Giant Mind were hosting a mass meditation for peace. We feel so sad and helpless when atrocities happen in the world and this was just one way to show support to the families directly affected. The invitation was to sit together for a 15 minute meditation with the intention of unity,love and peace.

By meditating together, as a unified force, we significantly amplify the vibrational energy and power of our intention.

I had felt a touch of this vibrational energy in my own meditation an again the next day during Day 14 meditation.

The focus on this day was personal power. I have been on a journey of self discovery and felt like this meditation was an acknowledgement of the work I had done so far and encouragement to keep going. I had never believed in the power of mass prayer or meditation. The cynic in made thought if we could all join together and heal the world then why hasn’t it happened already? But now that I have felt a touch of the power it has made me think what if we all stepped into our own personal power and felt compassion for all living beings, how powerful would that be?

Become What You Believe – Week 1

 

 If you have never heard of the 21 Day Meditation Experience here’s a little summary. It’s an guided mediation series with Oprah and Deepak Chopra. Each series has a different focus and each day has a centering thought based on this focus. After signing up you receive daily emails and you can do the guided meditation on the website or you can download the app. 

What I love about the 21 day meditation experience is the focus of each series. And I think the reason is two-fold. For one I feel like it gives me a purpose to meditate. As a beginner I find it very hard to sit still and focus on my breath so I guess having a ‘purpose’ gives me a ‘reason’ to take 20 minutes out of my day and focus on me. I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels they have to justify ‘me time’ when there is a never ending list of to-do items that could be getting done. 

The other reason I love the focus of the series is how it feels like mini life lessons. I have been on a personal growth journey these past couple of years and am always eager to soak up new information. I feel myself drawn to the ‘airy-fairy’ side of things but still have my feet firmly planted in the mainstream convential world. I love reading about all the new science coming out about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and I feel that builds the bridge between the two world for me. 

And then comes the focus for this meditation series. Become what you believe. Our beliefs are what drives us and they are powerful. As the email I received on Day 1 puts it:

 Out beliefs are always in motion, constantly influencing our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Our unconscious beliefs are always affecting us as well. To use the power of belief to our greatest benefit, we need to become self-aware. In doing so, we attune our beliefs to our deepest spiritual aspirations. As we continue this Meditation Experience over the next few weeks, we will see our beliefs manifest as greater love, purpose, and meaning in our lives. 

Each day a new meditation is released and with it is a centering thought and a mantra. Here is a summary for the first week: 

Day 1 – Belief is Dynamic and Alive

The mantra Om Bhavam Namah helps to open our awareness to its source, which is pure consciousness.

Day 2 – Belief Gives Us Identity

The mantra So Hum affirms our existence as pure awareness. We are not our body, mind, or ego – we simply are.

Day 3 – Bringing Hidden Beliefs into the Light of the Self

The mantra Om Ritam Namah brings our awareness, understanding, and beliefs into accord with cosmic reality.

Day 4 – Your Positive Beliefs Shape Your Potential

The mantra Sat Chit Ananda describes the full reality of our true Self: who we really are.

Day 5 – What You Identify With, You Become

The mantra Sahas Rara Eem activates a powerful flow of universal knowledge and inspiration into our individual awareness.

Day 6 – Self-Awareness Brings Belief to Light

The mantra Om Hreem Namah simplifies the mind, bringing clarity and unity.

Day 7 – Belief Includes Mind, Body, and Spirit

The mantra Om Ram Ramaya activates balance, strength, and healing in all aspects of life, but especially in the body.

I really enjoyed the insights I got with daily meditation. The one that really resonated with me was when Deepak talked about flipping ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ on its head and turning it around into ‘I’ll see it when I believe it’. I’ve never really been one to think outside the box but I have really been trying to expand my mind so I guess that’s why this really stood out to me. I can’t wait to see what stands out next week :)