Meditation | Order of the Good Write

November 5, 2017
by Debi Rotmil 1 Comment

Meditation in a Loud World

When I was eleven years old, I fell in love. I first laid eyes on him inside an album cover. He was photographed within a crowd of people who looked off into the distance, as if there was an accident, or some guy who “made the grade” and “blew his mind out in a car”. He had cheek bones for days, a perfect shag, symmetric feathered hair cut and held an inner beauty with an essence of humor. The man was gorgeous to me. His name was George Harrison.

It was my pre-adolescent crush on the spiritual Beatle George that introduced me to meditation. The stories about the Beatles’ visiting a giggly, wise, (and apparently very handsy) guru named Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, fascinated me. Further obsession with Harrison introduced me to the story of Krishna. I’d read Rolling Stone, listen to Harrison interviews on the radio and on TV, marinate in the lyrics of his songs about finding inner peace and gaining a concept of how life “flows within you and without you”. All these bits of wild and wonderful wisdom have followed me, escaped me, and the returned during the most difficult and wonderful times of my life.

Too young to really understand how to meditate, I put it aside as a future tool I’d never realize I’d need. With maturity came understanding the technique of meditation and its value. When things get rough in this loud and crazy world – especially during a time of transition whether in your career, life, status or whatever is on your plate that’s stirring up the particles in your mind’s snow globe – the practice of meditation can help keep your mind balanced and on track to finding the peaceful room that lives inside you. It can also hone your intuition, allow you to make decisions with power, and provide a state of well being that will provide clarity while going out and accomplishing your goals.

The answers come when our mind is still. Live mindfully. That means, don’t give into fear. Don’t give into worry. Don’t believe in scarcity. Shutting off a few minutes a day to focus on the peace that lives inside you will autocorrect these feelings because we are not meant to feel this.

We are not running from wolves anymore. Our frontal lobe bullshit can only help us understand what we need to change and work on. But letting fear cloud our clarity toward success will only hold us back and manifest the very things we fear. It doesn’t have to be that way.

I’m like you. I’m constantly face to face with the fearful stuff life brings. The pitfalls come and the self doubt creeps in. Yet, I work hard, and encourage you, to transform fear into power. We are racing through life, family and career without thought or connection to our inner vibration. Time to slow down to help you tap into your gut feelings and live mindfully. It will help you and those around you be the best you are meant to be.

Here are some resources on meditation I’ve found helpful.

The Universe Has Got Your Back, By Gabrielle Bernstein.

The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation, by Thich Nhat Hanh and Vo-Dihn Mai

Science of Being and Art of Living: Transcendental Meditation, by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

There are also plenty of guided meditations on YouTube to provide steps on how to calm the mind so you can think clearly and optimize your day.

If you’re like me and prefer atmospheric, brain soothing spacey audio to help you flow, like high frequency tones and vibrational sounds that reboot the electrodes in your brain – search for “Binary Beats” on YouTube. Play with some videos and stick with the ones that make you feel good. Plug in for 10 minutes – at your desk or in a quite corner at home – and clear those mind clouds. (Don’t do this and drive.)

The one great challenge is to make yourself do this everyday, and to not fall into the well of despair by forgetting that quiet peace inside you.

Thoughts don’t matter. What lays beneath does. George opened that concept to me.

Thanks, George.

Go forth and namaste with your spiritual self.

September 20, 2015
by Debi Rotmil 2 Comments

Someone’s Praying at my Window

It’s 11:30pm. There’s a praying mantis outside my window screen, watching me. She’s finished eating the last of her lady bug, its little red carcass slipped through her little talons and fell to the bottom of the sill. It’s hard to see her. It’s dark out. But from internet search, I can see she’s a brown praying mantis. Her eyes are red dots. A flash light illuminating her doesn’t upset her.

Sometimes she’ll start to rock back and forth. Other times she’ll wipe her talons over her head the way a cat does when cleaning himself.

I’ve been hard on myself lately. Maybe this symbol of contemplation was placed there to remind me to chill. She appeared when i removed my window fan to close my window after I detected the smell of cigarette smoke coming from yet another AirBnB guest of my downstairs neighbor who seems to be running a hotel out of her place .

And there she was – clinging horizontally, catching a little gnat. When I flashed a light to observe her, she moved vertical, as if to get a good look at me. She’s been in that position ever since. Her face moves side to side like September Observer from Fringe.

And she’s still there, spending the night I guess. So, I’m playing music to keep her at my window. I feel safe under her watchful eyes.

February 5, 2015
by Debi Rotmil Leave a comment

The World Inside Us

The video I posted yesterday of Astronaut Ron Garan’s time lapse video taken from the International Space Station stays with me today. It not only packs a punch when you think of perspective and how we are tiny dots on the butt of the universe, it also produces this lofty profound feeling of peace. Looking at planet Earth from so high above the atmosphere where it’s a glowing magical ball of aurora borealis and green ionosphere colors, there’s tranquility – like the empty space in our minds and heart when one meditates.

The quiet nothingness of outer space is like that quiet corner of the mind. When we view the planet from on high, we see this serene sphere and know it is vibrating with life and colliding emotions. How silly do we feel knowing how small our problems are, how man made our issues, how destructive human ego can be when we are riding on a big glowing ball in the middle of a dark vast universe of stars?

Each of us has a bit of heaven or outer space in our hearts and minds. The outer space within us brings forth some good writing. Sit still and listen to thoughts that come from that space. Don’t block the daydreams that enter your head, (unless you have to attend to responsibilities, of course). When you have a chance, try turning off the chaos around you. Ideas will come. This also helps if you’re trying to tap into your intuition, to help you make a difficult decision.

As John Lennon once sang, “There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.” Do you know why? Because there is a world inside us that provides a deep abundant well of good stuff.

Little by little you allow the open space – “The Big Wherever” to let it rush through. As my online guru Marie Forleo says “The world needs that special gift that only you have.” Bring it.

Each of us has something to offer. Earth looks so pretty when we see it from a space station orbiting above. Why not listen to our calling and try to make it better down below?

I love doing these pep talk blogs. I’m not just trying to help anyone out there reading this, I’m giving a pep talk to myself as well. We’re all in this together!