Last week I bought a book that I’ve been wanting for a couple of months now:

Awakening Beauty, the Dr. Hauschka Way

This book is full of information about caring for your skin and what defines true beauty.  Dr. Hauschka skin products are of excellent quality, by the way.  They are expensive, but they are well researched and plant based and worth the  money you pay for them.  I know the effects of the products and I am familiar with the science behind their production, and I longed to have this book on my bookshelf at home.   

So getting back to my subject line:  “Do Nothing and Gain the Entire World.”

The book offers a suggestion:  set aside 20 minutes per week to meditate.  Get in a quiet place inside your home or in your garden and sit quietly for 20 minutes just being aware of your feelings.  You must not do anything else during this time.  No sleeping, no TV, no writing, no reading.  Just sit and think.  As the book says, just “feel your feelings.”  I did this yesterday. 

Do you have any idea how hard this was for me?  It’s difficult for me to sit down for even one minute before I feel like I need to jump up and get something done.  As you know, it’s been a personal challenge for me to play dolls with my daughter on a daily basis and be willing to sit down with her and just be a little girl for a short while each day.

I sat myself down on my loveseat facing a large window.  The room was dimly lit.  There was a candle burning on the coffee table.  There’s a hedgerow between our home and the neighbor’s.  I looked at the cedars, the oaks and other various plants that have sprung up there.  (I’m looking forward to this hedgerow getting thicker over time.)  The cedars were swaying in the wind.  I looked at the clock.  Five minutes ’til ten.

I began.  My state of mind was certainly overwhelmed when I began this 20-minute task.  Feelings of exhaustion, resentment, anger, joy, contentment, accomplishment, love, and more swirled through my mind.  How can a mind hold all of this at one time?  I wondered where each thought came from and what to do with it.  I had tears in my eyes.  (If you read here regularly you’ll know that I struggle at times with contentment, working and homeschooling, and my husband’s health issues.  I’ve lost my dad and both grandmothers in the last two years.)

I looked at the clock.  Only one or two minutes had passed.  Hmmmm.  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.  I began to calm down and think about how much comes at me every single day and how impulsively I act on feelings of desperation at times.  I focused on my breathing.  I started to feel sleepy. 

I looked at the clock again.  About one more minute had passed.  The ticking of the wall clock became very apparent.  I looked at the swaying of the cedar trees.  Clear goals were surfacing.  I began to see some trivial things that had been eating up my time.  I was sleepier, but I wanted to finish this.

One minute by one minute, the twenty minutes passed.  Oh my, how I needed what had just happened.  It was the most relaxed I have felt in months and months.  Maybe in years.  Twenty minutes is a long time when you are doing absolutely nothing except being. 

Once done and up and moving around, the calmness did not leave.  I took a nap — 1-1/2 hours!  I woke up hungry and craving a salad, which I ate!  With organic cottage cheese and honey-mustard dressing. 

This calmness lasted all day.  In fact, I had another 30-minute nap — of sound sleep — later in the day, and I slept like a rock last night.

I am going to do this 20-minute meditation again today, and then for as many days as I feel I need it to restore my natural body rhythms and my sense of peace.  (This is a different peace than spiritual peace, though I think they can affect each other.)

If you are into aging gracefully and beautifully, and healthy eating, etc., then I highly recommend the book.  If you are overwhelmed, I highly recommend a 20-minute quiet meditation.  You may be surprised at the thoughts that surface.

Lynn