How Meditation Helps You Grow Up ( a Giveaway!) - When I Grow Up

How Meditation Helps You Grow Up ( a Giveaway!) - When I Grow Up Um, you guys? With my word of 2013 being Space and hearing ad nauseum (in a good way) about the benefits of meditation, Ive been meaning to start a practice. But, um, you guys? It sooooo hasnt happened. Which is why I was thrilled when I saw my friend Kate Swoboda leading a 30 Days of Meditation  course this March, and I signed up the first second I saw it. Now Im extra thrilled, because Kates here addin to the ad nauseum (in a good way) and giving away a spot in the ecourse. Read on! Meditation Print by Little Ladybug When it comes to careers, the job market, or the economy, these are times that could easily be described asoverwhelming. When we feel overwhelmed, that’s something beyond sadness or anger. Sadness is the venting of grief, and anger is the venting of frustration, and overwhelm takes those two and adds on a murky layer of “confused.” It’s hard to think straight. It’s hard to get clear on what you really want. It’s hard to feel like yourself (if you even knew who that was, to begin with). So here I am, just some life coach who’s going to start talking about meditation. Yeah, yeah, yeah But wait! I’m not going to promise that meditation can solve all of your problems (it won’t). I’m not going to promise that meditation will tell you what you should be when you grow up (entirely possible, but no guarantees). What I’m going to tell you is that a regular meditation practice leads you on the journey of a lifetime, the journey of intimately knowing who you are. Internal and External It’s time taken away from the overwhelm of the external world, dialing down, so that you can see that all that external stuff is just a reflection of the internal. Whatever overwhelms you out there is not actually the issue. The issue is that something within you is so triggered by what’s out there. The real work is looking at the entire belief system that sets up overwhelmand it’s really, really tough to look at that belief system when there’s no practice in place for slowing the thoughts down enough to be able to examine them. In this way, meditation is really practical and pragmaticit’s a useful tool, and it’s one that anyone can do. In fact, if you think about itmeditation helps us to “grow up” by facing our problems and getting to know who we truly are. Me, Too? Yes, you. You can do this. Even if you’ve tried meditation before and thought it was impossible, you can do this. That’s the entire premise behind my upcoming course, 30 Days of Meditation. When I first tried formal sitting meditation, I thought I was going to crawl out of my skin. I couldn’t sit still. “Focus on the breath”were they kidding? I found my way to meditation by using presence practices that built a bridge to my current sitting practice. In 30 Days of Meditation, I show you what those practices are. This is about finding the style of meditation that resonates for you, in small, 5 to 15-minute increments of time. The Giveaway 30 Days of Meditation starts March 4th, and Michelle and I have collaborated to offer a giveaway to one of her readers. We’ll be randomly choosing one winner to get the entire course for free. That’s: The 30 Days of Meditation course, complete with downloadable audio meditations. You’ll learn more than 20 different styles of meditation. Access to the inaugural 30 Days of Meditation online community. The 30 Days of Meditation companion e-book. 2 Bonus “prep” practices to get you set up. All you have to do is leave a comment  on how you feel meditation would help you with your creative career. Well close the comments at 12p Eastern on Wed 2/13 and will pick a winner via random.org shortly thereafter. Note: Even if you’ve already signed up for 30 Days of Meditation, you can enterif your name is chosen, I’ll happily credit your account. UPDATE: Hooray hooray, we have a winner Lorinda Fraser! Kate will be emailing you soon with all the details. Thank you everyone for your great comments! Kate Courageous is a life coach, writer and speaker who teaches people why “integrity is sexy” and how the practice of courage is revolutionary. Since 2009, thousands of people have visited http://www.YourCourageousLife.com to learn more about working with fear in revolutionary ways through the practice of courageâ€"with the core message being that when you’re trying to eradicate fear or pretend that it doesn’t exist, you’re working against yourself. Her approach is a sexy-soulful combination of intuitive spirituality with brass-tacks, pragmatic wisdom. She defines courage as feeling afraid, diving in anyway, and transforming. Photo credit: In Her Image Photography