For the last two days, I have been meditating with the help of a free guided meditation mp3 file that I found on the internet. I have to say, that using the guided meditation has helped me ten fold. It is amazing at how much more focused I am when listening to the guided meditation. From now on I am going to continue using the guided meditation to help me get better at it. Once I have more practice I am sure I wont need it anymore. but for starting out, I think it is a definite help, and I would recommend it to anyone else out there just starting to practice meditation.

I took a couple days off from my meditation practice, due to my dog being sick and keeping my wife and I up at night, so I ended up opting for more sleep. I realize this wasn't the best choice, but its done, so I will try to make a stronger effort next time. In any case I got right back to it this morning. Unfortunately it was the worst session yet. My wife was up and about getting ready to go to work. Even though I was up in the loft, I could still hear her making noise and talking to the dog. I found this to be a very large distraction and couldn't focus at all. I struggled with it for about 6 min, and then just gave up for a while, until she had left for work, then I sat down and tried again. I was able to focus much more clearly and had a fairly successful second go at it.

Unfortunately I was not able to practice any meditation over the long weekend, but I did get back to my practice today. For today I decided to go with the normal concentrative meditation method, and just like on the first day, I made it roughly 8 minutes before my concentration was broke,I didn't have as loud of an internal voice as I did on the first day , but it was still there. I can say that I feel more calm now having done the meditation, as well as more awake. I am practicing this as soon as I get up in the morning, so I find that I will yawn once or twice throughout the meditation. I think this will change, or possibly I need to have my morning shower before I meditate, because I am always wide awake after that. We'll see.

Today was the second day of meditation, and It went pretty good I think. Maybe I did this a little premature, but I wanted to try the AUM meditation method as described on AnmolMehta.com. This technique has you doing a couple of things different to normal meditation, first, is you want to look at the middle of your forehead (as close as you can without straining your eyes). Second, you want to have your thumb touching your index finger and rest both hands on your knees. Finally you want to repeatedly Say the word 'AUM' or OM.

I have been thinking of starting to meditate for a while now, having read so much about how good it is for you and how it is a great opportunity for personal growth. I decided that I would finally take the plunge. It was time to stop reading and thinking about it, and to actually start practicing it. So, this morning when I woke up at my normal time, I grabbed a timer, set it to 10 minutes and found a comfortable spot to sit and meditate. I am going to write an article on the reasons why I've started meditating in the next day or two, so stay tuned for some great information that will be contained in there.

Well, I am back from my vacation now, and have to head back to work tomorrow. Other then spending one weekend at a cottage I didn't really go anywhere, but seeing as I had the time off of work, I thought I'd relax and try to distance myself from my sites for the same amount of time as well. It was a good "staycation", I put on an extension to my deck, and built a shed as well. It's amazing just how much money you can save if you do things yourself. I estimate that I probably saved about a thousand dollars just for building the deck and shed myself. But its not just about saving money, it was a lot of fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Its such a change compared to my desk job that it reminded me just how much I enjoy working with my hands.

I wanted to throw up a Quick Stress Reliever tip that I think might help some people, not only will this relieve stress, but it will also help you get fit!

The next time you are feeling a little bit overwhelmed or stressed from your day to day interactions and responsibilities, spare 30 min. so you can engage in some moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise. Go out for a jog, bike run, possibly hit up the gym and jump on your favorite machine. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as you get your heart moving. You'll notice that when you are done, your troubles and stress don't seem so bad anymore.

As I was sitting out on the end of a dock early Saturday morning, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, I found myself truly amazed at what was happening all around me. Between the sound of the gentle breeze blowing through the reeds and the waves brushing up against the side of the dock, the distinct aroma coming off of the lake and most importantly the wildlife around me. The Great Blue Heron which was stalking the minnows in the shallow end of the bay or the fishing bird circling above who would periodically take a dive into the lake from the sky above.