Vipassana is a Pali word that translates as insight or mindfulness. For almost a year, I have been using an app on my phone and desktop to ground my day with a 10-minute guided vipassana meditation. If it interests you, you can sign up for a 7-day free trial. Or you can contact me and I can invite you to a 30-day free trial.

It’s part of my morning routine, which has changed slightly in the month of April. I have to incorporate my commitment to blog almost daily. I scribble some ideas for the next blog post into my morning pages, then do my 10 minutes of vipassana. Next, I open a Word document to begin drafting.

Stress and Anxiety

This morning, I got up late, and I had a busy day planned. I trusted that everything that needed to be done would get done. Without panic, I began my routine. I made my bed, brushed my teeth, and drank some water with Metamucil mixed in. I made a cup of coffee, and I sat down to my morning pages before opening my laptop. Opening the computer is a surefire way to get distracted.

photo by: eplisterra

Equanimity

The morning pages turned into a list of my priorities for the day, but it allayed my anxiety to write everything down.  I had a brief email exchange with a friend. She is going through a tough time with her aging parents and their end-of-life issues.

The picture is complicated by a disagreement with her sister. I witnessed similar situations when I practiced Palliative Care. My friend said mindfulness was helping her cope. It wasn’t so much the formal meditation practice itself, but the after-effect, the equanimity.

Resistance

I’m working through my resistance to a conference I’m going to this week to earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits to maintain my medical license. I’ve paid a lot of money to go, but as I look through the agenda, I don’t see anything valuable for me, in my changed role as a retiree.

I’m counting on mindfulness to help me make peace with what I have to do and reframe it as a choice rather than as coercion. My worries may come to naught (they often do), but I won’t know until I get up in the morning and pay attention. I’ll make my bed and brush my teeth.