Recently I have been reading Into the Magic Shop by James R Doty, and he brings up the interesting idea of using meditation in order to keep your body calm in stressful situations – which in return would assist in keeping you healthier (seeing as the chemicals released in your brain during streasful situations are not very good for you). The jist of it is to learn to control your muscles (relax them) and eventually your blood pressure. Another health benefit would be peacfulness in the mind. Meditation is by far not something new, but western culture seems to be a little out of touch with it.

Yesterday, my mother and I visited Serenbe, which is a small self-sustained community in Palmetto, Georgia.

We had a quick lunch and then sat by the lake to enjoy the beautiful 70 degree weather in January. Near this lake, more of a pond really, was a small stone maze which one would use to meditate. 

I hopped over the rocks to stand on one of the stone blocks. No patience. I do a lot of things like that, I think our generation as a whole has a difficult time with waiting for things. Thanks to technology we are constantly bombarded with instant gratification. So when it comes to real things, our mental, emotional, physical, health it is hard for us to wait. As I looked out from the middle I realized that in this case, it wasn’t the destination, it was the journey, that would have benefited me. So for my exit I walked the maze. It took a good 10-15 minutes, but felt like 30. It is much larger than it looks in the photo! Afterwards however, I felt calmer. Even a little accomplished that I took the time to do the “maze.”

I think I’m going to try and keep that in mind from now on – do things with mindfulness. Meditate on life a little.

Mindfully, Lilu