In the middle of 2016, at the height of pain and destruction in my body, I met with a therapist who specialises in Private Subconscious-mind Healing (PSH) therapy and guided meditation. I needed to calm down the stress in my mind and body, and I had tried repeatedly but I could never get a meditation practice to stick. 

At the time I was also inhaling anything prescribed by Queen of Gratitude and Meditation, Oprah Winfrey. I had spent months listening to her podcasts and reading her books, and knew how much she loved gratitude and meditation practices… but it was not enough to make me actually practice it. 

For some mysterious reason, I now know that gratitude and meditation practices were meant to start in the same season of my life and go hand in hand for me. 

After the second session with the therapist, where I relaxed into a very comfortable recliner chair and listened to my therapist guide me through a live and custom-made pathway meditation, something big shifted within me. I would ‘wake’ or be guided out of these hypnosis-style meditations, to feel that my mind had been completely swept clean of debris and to start afresh. Everything in my mind and body felt lighter and cleaner. 

It was that same week that I subconsciously decided to start a gratitude journal, writing a few good moments in it every night before I went to bed and to this day I haven’t missed a night of writing. I wrote a blog post last week about how much I love my gratitude practice to end the day on a good note. 

After such a massive impact from the guided meditation sessions with the therapist, I started doing a short guided meditation each morning when I woke up and was lying on my heat mat, and then in the afternoon I would listen to my therapist’s recorded guided meditation tracks before my nap. I craved that feeling of having my mind clear and lighter, and that benefit was the thing that kept my momentum going.

These two practices have been game changers for me.  

But I don’t think they would have even started if I didn’t ‘deep dive’ into them. 

Sometimes when learning a new skill, we have to dedicate a good chunk of time into the first few sessions of learning.

I remember learning to drive a car. At first, having an hour or more of dedicated time to become familiar with the car and practice was way more beneficial than a few ten minute sessions, where you would promptly forget everything and have to repeat it all again next time. Once the basics were mastered, having shorter amounts of time to practice became more beneficial as it was becoming more familiar with repetition. 

The same can be said for any skill or practice. Starting with a ‘deep dive’ means you get your bearings in the skill, and then it starts to follow naturally and as a habit. It may mean that you need to seek out a class, a teacher or a coach to get started or give you specific guidance. It may just be that you need time to set up, plan it out and organise yourself, so that it can just be a short quick practice in the future.  

Starting can be hard, but if you dive far and deep into the water to begin with, you can get further when you start swimming.

Take heart, Readers. I’ll keep the light on.

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