Mallika Chopra: Living with Intent
You know, meditation is really just about settling our mind down. It’s totally okay to have racing thoughts, for our mind to wander. And there are just techniques that help us kind of slow down the endless cycle of one thought after another thought after another thought.
So, one, I think meditation should be simple. And then, really when we’re in that quiet place, when we’re listening more to ourselves rather than, you know, just going over our task list and everything else that we have to do, our insecurities and our frustrations, but when we listen in that quiet place and ask those questions, who am I, what do I want, and how can I serve, you know, the answers start to pop up. It’s almost like we’re hearing them.
So, I want to stress to people that, you know, that’s okay. We go through different phases in our lives when things make sense. And, you know, often when I’m meditating, I’m more in balance. And then, when I’m not meditating, I’m out of balance and I remember–I keep feeling guilty that I’m not meditating and finally commit to doing it again.
The other thing is that, yes, you don’t need like a special place. You don’t need to sit in a special way. Really, you can meditate anywhere and at any time. And all you need is basically to close your eyes. I usually use words like “I am,” and just mentally repeat them.
And then, what happens is automatically your mind begins to wander, which is completely normal and expected ’cause that’s what our mind does. And all we do is we come back to those words.
So, it’s this constant flow between the words “I am” and then thoughts, distractions, you know, all this self-talk. And then, we say, “Oh, you know what? I’m supposed to say I am.” So, we go back and forth. And that’s just a very simple meditation. So, that’s important, but the other thing is that, you know, I also do it when I can’t–I try to do it once a day. Often for me, it’s between my morning work and routine. I do that, and then before I pick up my girls from school and the day gets crazy again, I just try to find 10 to 15 minutes to sit quietly. Sometimes it’s even in the carpool line waiting to pick them up. And so, you can really do it anywhere anytime.
