a month for meditating

OM shanti y'all!

I spent the month of march focusing on meditation. i journaled a lot.  i created a new vision board (on pinterest!).  i refocused.  and after all of this time spent moving inward, i feel like i am more than ready to move outward with my intentions and goals!  it's kind of cool that this external awakening happened alongside the blossoming of spring.  stars in alignment and all that... love when that happens!

every now and again i come back to this practice.  i shut everything else off and just focus on my feelings and experiences.  through my meditation i allow myself to be open to all possibilities. i let this be a time for stillness and through that stillness i listen.  

some takeaways for me this time around:

-have goals with soul
this is an expression i learned while reading 'the desire map' by danielle laporte.  i am in love with this concept. anyone that knows me, knows i love to set goals! but it wasn't until i read this book that i realized a lot of my goals are focused on external stimuli and how i think they'll make me feel. i've since re-worked many of my goals to be intentions and created each one based on my basic, intrinsic desires. man, they feel good!

-one small step 
each day i look at my basic desired feelings and try to do one small thing to bring me in that direction. the things i do each day are more driven by how i want to feel, rather than what i think i need to do.

-service
i am seeking more ways to be of service. whether volunteering, subbing a class for someone or lending an ear i'm dedicated to being helpful. karma yoga is a form of practice too and it's one i'd like to connect with more deeply. 

-accomplish one thing that scares the shit outta me this year
back in 2011 i set a goal to run a half marathon.  a little background on me- i'm not a runner.  in fact, if you looked up 'runner' in the dictionary, i'd be listed under antonyms. i set this goal to scare myself. i set it to prove something to myself. anyway, 6 weeks before the race i fell ill and my training was impacted significantly. i still did the half marathon.  i finished it, but i was unable to actually run the whole thing.  i walked a lot more than i wanted to and always had this nagging desire to try it again and really give it my all! mentally i quit this half marathon half-way through.  i don't know if another half is the goal i'll set - with the desired feeling of accomplishment being why i set it! - but i'm craving something to get me uncomfortable and out of my comfort zone. 

i loved focusing on how i want to feel during these meditations. i get caught up a lot in the 'shoulds' of life. i tend to overthink... a lot.  that leads to me running on autopilot and settling in cruise control. it was pretty powerful to just come back to the nuts and bolts of what i want and why i want it. 

here are some of my core desired feelings that i connected with through my meditations:

independence/strength/love/loyalty/companionship/
spiritually awakened/present/FREE/adventurous/accomplished/mentally stimulated/guided

these are just a few of the things my meditations brought into my awareness.  i'm going to continue focusing on operating from my desired feelings and trust the path in front of me.  
have you ever thought about what your core desires are?  

sat nam
xo,b