morning moment: Recent Episodes
Hannah Gaber
Brief thoughts on meditation, mindfulness, stoicism, mental health and self care to start your day, or refresh your thinking whenever you just need to take a moment.
It’s core to Buddhist thought that expectation is the source of all suffering. Author Anne Lamott also encapsulated this when she wrote “Expectations are premeditated resentments.” https://twitter.com/annelamott/status/1538730119845384192?lang=en A friend of mine said to me recently that expectations are disappointments waiting to happen. Examining our feelings when we find ourselves oriented towards or fixated on an outcome is so important, because without realizing it, we might be putting our potential happiness at the mercy of circumstance, ego, or others. Even in cases where the outcome we desire occurs it’s crucial to understand that “this too shall pass.”
“If you think you’re enlightened, spend a week with your family.” Even Ram Dass was aware how all of our hard work can fall by the wayside when we’re back around our families. Here are just a few practical tips and reflections that might be helpful for you. If these don’t work for you, there are lots of other resources out there, and if nothing else, take from this that you are among friends in struggling to or being conflicted about how to enjoy spending time with our families around the holidays.
“Everything happens for a reason” may be comforting, but it hides the deeper truth which is we have the power—indeed the only power we have—to ascribe the meaning to things that have happened. The external circumstances of our lives will always be subject to forces beyond our control; in the same way all we can control is how we react to things, the meaning of what happens to us is up to us to decide.
Sometimes, mustering motivation, even to do things we know are good for ourselves, is a challenge. Journaling is one of those good-for-us habits that can be really challenging to do regularly, but has huge benefits if you can get there. A great way to set yourself up to complete this tiny task, keep this one little promise to yourself, might be starting with prompts. Here’s some thoughts on how-and why-that could work, and a few to get you started.
For neurodivergent people like myself (ADHD), managing time and making deadlines or appointments can be a HUGE challenge. The shame and embarrassment and guilt associated with that can exacerbate the behaviors that cause a person to be late or miss deadlines. I recently discovered the term “time blind”, and it was a lightbulb moment, and helped clarify some of the mental and emotional processes that can contribute to this, and perhaps most importantly: that if this sounds like you, too, we’re not alone.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Jewish High Holy Days, are separated by ten days known as “The Days of Awe.” It’s a time of reflection and introspection, and this year, the theme of gentle appreciation and gratitude has been very much present. There’s many ways to be grateful, and if we take a moment, perhaps much to be grateful for.
Obsessing over what others think of us and reliving interactions over and over is a very common worry; or is it a habit? If it’s a habit, maybe there’s ways to break it
Humans have notoriously terrible memories, and after my vacation hiking in Peru, I wonder if I don’t suddenly understand why…
We live in a productivity-obsessed society, but are any of the products really as important as the process? Kurt Vonnegut, Jay Shetty, and Margaret Atwood all float through this morning moment’s meditations on creating vs. creativity, and what we learn in the process.
Achieving internal quiet is hard, and takes practice. But one of the things that can help identify emotions without identifying with them is “noting”. Name them as they arise as a way to observe as they pop up, and you may just realize they don’t carry the weight or power that our brains can assign them.
It can be so hard-and even stressful, until you begin-to even consider taking a true, real rest. Not just stopping something to do another thing, not listening to the TV or a podcast in the background while you complete some lingering task, but truly doing….nothing. If you’re like me you’re not even totally sure how to approach it. But when you give yourself that time, that space, and truly step back and observe the results, there is no denying the effects of deep, real, rest.
“Be here now” is a central principle of mindfulness and meditation (as well as the title of a famous book by Guru Ram Dass). Simple as it is, it’s hilariously hard to accomplish for most of us. Give yourself some grace, and don’t forget that each new moment is a clean slate, a fresh chance to live in the present only, not in regrets of the past or anxieties about the future. Each new moment is another opportunity to be here now.
An offering of thoughts based in meditation, stoicism, spirituality or just some contemplation to keep you company as you start your day, or recreate that quiet morning mood whenever you need to. Set your intention from a place of calm, or hit the reset button for a few moments anytime. Welcome!