A while ago I discovered Leo Babuata's blog zenhabits. At the time I was in a simplifying mode, and self examination mode. (I ask myself, "what ever happened to simplifying?!") I recently read a post on his blog about meditation. Which caused me to recall my own very positive experience with meditation. About 6 years ago I took a class on beginning meditation at the zen center in Sunnyvale, CA. That class changed my brain. I took it because I had heard how meditation can improve a person's ability to pay attention and to retain information; memory improvement. Oh, I needed that class! At the time Max was 2ish. I was still sleep deprived and just one year into living in this new land called California. I was having a hard time adjusting to life in the west, but I was loving the clay community I had found and was immersing myself in. A friend in that clay community was taking a class at the zen center and mentioned it to me. I went. Honestly I was a little nervous about attending the class - it consisted of 45 minutes of meditation and about an hour of Dharma talks. I became dedicated to that class, sure I could improve my brain. I could feel the change in myself. Clarity of thought, more patience, happier. Not sure how much my memory really improved, but it changed my brain, and even though I haven't meditated regularly in over three years I think my brain has held that neurological improvement. So I've decided to meditate daily again. I am committing to 5 minutes a day, at least. If I can fit in more, great! I think it will add up and bring me back to center even if it's just a little bit. It's all about creating the habit, or recreating it.
So this week I changed my food and I added a five minute a day meditation habit.
What are you guys doing to take care of yourself?
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