We missed two days in a row of meditation, but not for lack of wanting to do it. On Friday night, I went out with a girlfriend who is divorcing. She needed it and I think I did, too. I got home too late. Then last night, my husband was sick with a stomach bug, so we skipped it and went to bed early.

Tonight we meditated for 20 minutes on loving gratitude. I found myself being appreciative for the opportunity to welcome a new baby into our lives. I am hoping that we will become pregnant in the next six months and feel that a little boy is waiting to come to us. We shall see.

My husband kept repeating how appreciative he was "for my family, the trees, the roof over my head, the smiles on my kids' faces, my beautiful wife." Loving gratitude.

In the middle, our 7 year old son got up out of bed and came downstairs. My husband put him back to bed and we resumed. No big deal. This is our beautiful life for which we are grateful.

Tonight, we meditated to impermanence. I didn't get to any real deep insights, but rather kept having the same reruns come up over and over again. I found this annoying and had to remind myself that they weren't that important in the grand scheme of worse things (like illness and death), labeled them "angry still," and then tried to remember that this will pass. Impermanence. Impermanence. Change is inevitable.

My husband kept repeating, "The only constant is change and that change is inevitable." In our bodies. In our relationships. He kept going through the list of relationships and changes in his life. "The evidence is clear," he said, "that change is always upon us." What about love, he thought though? It doesn't mean that it has to go away, but rather it changes over time.

Happy Valentine's Day! Tonight, we meditated about the sensations in our body, following Sharon's suggestions for week 2. We tried to focus on what our bodies were feeling.

As we did this, my husband could feel the tingling sensations from his head to his toes, in his sinuses (we both have colds), and all over. He was surprised to see how his mind drifted away from his body so easily, especially to the future, which it often does. Be in the present, he thought.

I tried to feel what was going on in my body, but instead and to my surprise, found that my memory was taking me back to all of the times when people have made positive comments about my body. This was a huge surprise to me, because I have grown so accustomed to being overly critical of my body (I'm a size 6 and an athlete and pretty much have been my whole life) that I had literally forgotten or suppressed all of the positive feedback I have received. I remembered comments made by boyfriends and friends dating back to high school, comments made currently by friends and my husband, and random comments from people I hardly knew. I was then taken to a negative space where I wondered why my husband and ex-boyfriend would make negative comments about my body. But instead of focusing on them, I realized that they were wrong, it was their own insecurities that made them say these things to me, and that overall, if I counted up the positive comments vs. the negative ones (not counting my own!), the positive ones far outweighed the negative ones. I could be proud of my body, accept it for being beautiful, and appreciate it for being strong and getting me an athletic scholarship. My body has served me well in every facet of my life.

Tonight, we meditated on what we were thankful for and there was a lot ... there was a lot and it was the usual stuff ... kids, family, each other, health ... thankful for our own strength and the strength of each other also.

Last night, we meditated for 20 minutes on "Letting Go." We were really carrying around some recent events and felt the need to try to let these events go. I felt good letting these things go, as well as letting past events (from 15 years ago!) go as well. At one point, I was actually singing, "Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go..." and laughed. It was very refreshing to be able to laugh instead of get angry or feel hurt by these events.

My husband had a particularly wonderful experience with the Letting Go meditation. As he let things go that have happened recently, he started examining why he did certain things. As he explored deeper, he found to his amazement that his need for positive attention (which he discovered last night that he needed) stemmed from him being insecure (also discovered last night). He was excited to have discovered this so that he doesn't repeat certain mistakes in the future, but as he was telling me that afterwards, I became angry. I was happy he had discovered this about himself, but I knew it all along, never pointed it out, and so was resentful that his "awakening" had been at the expense of my hurt over the years.

I absolutely did not want to take away from his experience or learning process, but then I wondered ... Should we really be sharing everything we discover about ourselves as we meditate or should it remain private? We also talked about this, how helpful it is to meditate together and then talk, really talk afterwards. But still, I felt annoyed. This carried over into this morning when I picked a fight with him and brought up the whole insecurity issue of his. We each got mad, but were able to discuss our thoughts instead of bottle them up and push them under the rug in the past. So definitely, the joint meditations are helping us to communicate better, be on the same page, and be more open with each other. That's a good thing.

Last night, we meditated at our friends' house. The four of us sat in their den, lit a meditation candle, read two poems that we had prepared ahead of time, rang the little chime, and meditated for 20 minutes. It was wonderful to be able to meditate with friends. This is the first time we have ever done this and it was wonderful. We could feel the joint energy and it was so nice to be able to share something as important as meditating between friends. I felt really "grown up!"

Here are the two poems we read just before meditating:

Never feel you are unworthy or are not justified in having the best.
It is your true heritage, but you have to claim it; you have to accept it and expect it. It is yours. Are you going to accept it with a full and grateful heart, or reject it? Let not false humility prevent you from accepting what is yours by rights; and do not just accept it, but glory in it, and give eternal thanks for it. Treasure it, and watch the wonder of it unfold in your life, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that all I have is yours. - unknown

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“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - Marianne Williamson

After basically listing out all of the things I have a right to be (which is new to me to actually believe it!) at about 10 minutes into the meditation, I literally released something through my breath. I heard the release come up from my chest and out of my mouth! Working on shedding some of my armor, this felt really amazing!

We skipped tonight, because we had friends over, drank a little too much wine, and were really tired. We are sorry that we missed the meditation, though. As it turned out, my husband couldn't sleep, was awake in the middle of the night for 3 hours, and was gloomy the next morning. I could also sense my own sort of sadness in the morning, both in temperament, mind, and just for the fact that we missed the meditation. Good lesson for us. We've really come to appreciate and really need our nightly meditations.

Day 8 I did the body scan meditation laying down in bed after putting pets to bed. I have done this meditation before. I had recorded my voice reading Sharon's script from the book. When i did it before it went 'well". Last night, it was like I had restless leg syndrome that moved up my body. i just felt so uncomfortable and fidgety and tired.

day 9- I did the body sensation meditation. this time i did it a bit earlier and did it sitting in the space i had created for myself to meditate. i read the section in the book about 3 times before doing it. i did not "get' how this was mindful while i was doing the scan. i do understand the process (i think) but it just didn't seem mindful to me. but, i was able to sit for the twenty minutes without checking a clock and without a candle for a timer. i liked the meditation in that it had three things to focus upon. I will reread the script tomorrow and definitely return to this meditation either tomorrow of some other day during week 2.

i like having a "repertoire" of meditations to choose from.

i did not sleep much last night. i am hoping tonight is more restful.

Tonight, we meditated for 18 minutes on staying present. This is very difficult. Our minds wandered. The future. The past. The stories. The reruns. I actually briefly nodded off, probably more of a result of the fact that meditating at 10:00pm each night, the only time we have to do it, is also a time when we're tired. This is the present. Fatigue sets in. But we're practicing staying present, which spills over into our every day lives. Not worrying so much about the future. Not obsessing over the past. Listening when our kids are telling long stories with minute details. Playing with our kids when we're playing and not thinking about where else we should or would rather be. Appreciating the now. So now I have to go to bed! I'm tired.

Tonight, we meditated on nothing, just seeing what came and coming back to our breath. My husband fell asleep briefly and I thought of book ideas, which was cool, because instead of focusing on something, I let my mind open up to what was out there. Creativity flowed, so I went with it.

Love this post and the message of what we choose to attach to our experience. Week 2 has been terrifically hard for me to make myself sit. I have pushed through it but find myself with "meditation bad" coming up a lot. It forces me to stop, sit down and then pay attention to all the painful stuff happening around me... Distraction feels the best when life is tumultuous. Discipline and precision can serve the purpose of showing up even when you don't want to. And so, I will push through but the idea of the blissy, calm, healthy meditator eludes me at the moment. So, the itchy, I gotta get out of here feeling while I sit is just where I need to be and damn it's hard.

We meditated tonight for 18 minutes on gratitude. We began the meditation by thinking about how grateful we were for being able to take care of ourselves year after year. Then, moving into feeling gratitude for those who supported us, we acknowledged the many people who helped us. My husband then fell asleep and I moved into a state of sort of contented peacefulness, not thinking about a whole lot.

how can i get on the list of people that get the e-mail notices and the links to the weekly meditations

i have completed the first week, now in week too i did the body scan.. i find this one harder to do.. But i will keep at it.

I am just starting on the eight day - so am way behind. I would love suggestions (if people have time) of how you meditate through physical pain. I have chronic headaches, and when they come they usually last for several days if not weeks. It makes it very hard to do anything, let alone meditate. Any comments would be most appreciated. Peace and Namaste'.

So much power in this lesson, thank you. Today, on Day 8 of the challenge, I was delighted to feel a sense of "of course!" about my morning sitting as I headed to the attic. But then on the cushion, nearly unable to sit, nearly unable to not respond to the to-do list racing along and hooking me. Then, the inner critic showing up, chastising to-do-list-me for showing up and hooking me. Then, the question: can I just experience this? Can I experience the to-do-list "me" and just be with her, not judge her, and let her sit there with me on the cushion?

Dear Teacher, 

Thank you for ringing the bell of clarity so beautifully this morning. Your experience of the Burmese chili pepper is ripe with many lessons, including the one about how our thoughts about what we experience also affect our digestion.

Every thought we have creates a chemical reaction in the body. If we tune in to the body, we can feel it. Each one of us is, amongst many other things, a walking, talking chemical lab. And that chemistry changes based on the nature and content of our thoughts. The trained chemist knows how to neutralize. In your teaching today, you have shown us how the trained meditator neutralizes.

Thank You!

Elesa Commerse