November 2001	The Pearls of Pauline
Meditation for Do-Aholics by Pauline Thom, CPCC

Books tell me that meditation will slow down my heart rate, strengthen my immune system, replenish my energy-all those good things, but eeek––stop for 20 minutes, twice a day! You’ve got to be crazy!!!

Not only am I a do-aholic but everything I do has to be perfect! So, if I don’t know how to do something “right” I won’t even attempt it. Fear of performing badly with my meditating is a wonderful deterrent to it. However, along the way I have learned some important things about meditating which I will share with you.

First of all, if you are a “perfectionist do-aholic” (I coined this phrase) avoid the techniques of meditation that have rules a page long or steps to do while counting. For instance, some techniques advise you to breath in one nostril and out the other eight times, then four, then two, etc. or they say to stare at a spot between the eyes and put your tongue to the roof of your mouth, or sit facing east or north, or cross-legged, etc. This is enough to boggle my mind and make me take on scrubbing the kitchen floor instead. Anything is better than trying to be the “perfect” meditator. I lose track of my counting and go back to solving world problems. Thinking one’s self into meditating seems opposed to the whole point of meditation––connection with one’s inner sanctuary!

So for you perfectionist do-aholics I offer this:

1. ANY time and any amount of time is perfect for meditating. One minute is better than none. Can you stop solving world problems for one minute?

2. Sit in any way that is comfortable.

3. Silently finish this sentence: “I am aware of______.”

4. Notice that as you complete the sentence you are becoming more and more aware of things in your environment––the birds chirping, the clock ticking, the tightness in your shoulders, the twitch in your foot...

5. When you find you have reverted back to mindless chatter or daydreaming, merely notice––do not judge yourself––and gently return to finishing the sentence: “I am aware of______.”

6. Stop when you are ready to stop (one minute, …ten…fifteen…any amount is perfect) and congratulate yourself! You have just meditated and reaped the benefits thereof! This place of relaxed awareness is “being”. Enjoy it!

Meditation itself should not be work. The only “work” involved here is “forcing” yourself to stop doing for one minute! The more often you can take this being–break called meditation, the more fully you will realize just how much you are addicted to thinking and doing. Finishing the sentence, “I am aware of_____” with whatever you become aware of in your environment or body, will bring you back into the now and into your senses! It is such a relief from the droning on of the relentless blah, blah, blah––that mindless chatter that wants to take up all your attention. Try this right now and you just might become addicted to peace and quiet. Have fun with it! What a concept!

Certified Personal & Professional Life Coach Pauline Thom has taught Anger Management in prisons and taught meditation to prisoners on how to see themselves and their world differently. A Course in Miracles coach & member of the International Coaches Federation, Pauline can be reached at (714) 751-HOPE (4673) or emailed at coachpal@flash.net