I’ve been engaged in the Headspace course, “Managing Stress” in the last few weeks. At first, they start you out light with brief 5 minute meditation sessions, and a few other short videos and breathing exercises each day. Now into the third week, the sessions have lengthened to 10-15 minutes. It sounds a bit hard to believe that such a short session each day can help you. However, I have found that my calmness meter and my “cloak of resilience” has strengthened over these last few weeks.
Little things that would irritate me matter much less, and seem to bounce off of me instead of sticking with me. I have a better perspective on the “big picture” and I am less caught up on little things that used to bother me. The course encourages other ways to boost stress management, including exercise, mindful eating, a gratitude practice, and journaling. I am still in the middle of the course, but I feel myself building a superpower – a superpower of managing my emotions. I am still learning and nowhere near a master. However, I plan to keep building my “meditation muscle”. It is not easy or comfortable. But it is very inspiring to monitor myself and how I feel, and see how I am already emotionally flourishing.