Have you ever thought of creating a new automatism? Pavlov style?
I did…
April 2020 – 40 days into lockdown.
(Schools closed. Kids always at home.)
ME: Do you like it?
MY DAUGHTER: No.
ME: No?!?
MY DAUGHTER: No.
ME: Ohh… Why don’t you like it?
MY DAUGHTER: I don’t know.
At school her teachers were making kids meditate every day. 2 min, 3x times a day. I was exhilarated by this.
When I asked her about it, I had no doubt that she enjoyed it. But no.
There was not a minute to lose.
I had to find a way to make meditation more fun. It was my mission.
Why?!?
Because if you start meditating when you’re a kid, it becomes an ingrained automatism in you. Like pulling the brakes when you want your bicycle to stop.
Imagine automatically resorting to it when you feel bad, angry or disappointed. It’s like having the exact antidote to that pain.
3hrs later I came out with this: every time one of us rings the bell, we both stop whatever we’re doing.
We close the eyes, and follow the rhythm of our breath by running a finger on the other hand. Until we complete a return journey of the 5 fingers.
This is a return to the present. Letting go of anything but the rhythm of the breath.
HER: I’m going to catch you off guard!
ME: Watch out! I’ll catch YOU.
Cool. The excitement was there.
Meditation was now a game. Being ready to drop everything. Catching us off guard.
The aim was ringing the bell 3x times a day.
In reality an entire week could pass by without any ringing. And there were days with the bell ringing non-stop.
Two months later, the game was over. We both forgot about it.
One evening I was chopping a red onion on the counter and still complaining about how rude the guy who came to fix our hob was….(Not wearing a mask. Touching everything at home. Sneezing. And me having to sanitise everything. Not having time for this. Bla, bla, bla.).
She went upstairs to catch the bell, and rang it.
How amazing is that?
Recognising how important it’s to return to the present to return to clarity.
Would you like to give this fun game a go, Matilda?
Hit reply and let me know how it goes. I’d really like to know.
To a life to enjoy,
Laura
PS: You don’t need a bell like mine. I have it because I teach Meditation. You can tap a fork on a glass.
PSS: I didn’t intend to use my daughter for a Pavlov style experiment. It happened incidentally! 🙂
