Since January I have been meditating. I’d tried it in the past and it didn’t work. Some days i’m calmer than others. Some days I seem to receive or formulate or discover sound advice.

I have trouble sometimes deciding what to do. Since I’m retired, there are endless things to do instead of one clear thing: get ready for class. Or get ready for a meeting. But it was clear then what I was to do each day.

It’s been different for a long time now and all my elaborate lists of to-do’s doesn’t help me on some days. Meditation can help me focus. For example, there are the four exercises I can do regularly to help my body. With Fibromyalgia, I could do endless exercises. I could exercise eight hours a day. But that overwhelming thought keeps me from doing any exercises.

Instead, I used my meditation time to get an idea of how to straighten out my day. I miraculously came up with only four exercises.  I can do four exercises to keep myself going. And of course, I add a walk or a yoga class and I started doing the Plank in January. I do very well with it so I need to keep going. For those of you who don’t know this exercise position, the Plank is using your hands/arms and feet to hold yourself into a rigid plank, above your mat. I started with a modified version with my torso being held up on my forearms. And then I have my weights that I lift, trying for every other day. I HATE it when I can’t do something with my arms, because I have let them become weak.

And meditation is calming. I use it during the day sometimes to settle myself down. Do I recommend it? Only if you are willing to put in the time. And have the time to be patient.

I’m looking forward to trying the walking meditation this summer when I’m in Prince Edward Island with no one to see me moving like a zombie. No, not a zombie. Like one meditating.