79. Getting Mindful with Megan

Getting Mindful with Megan

As promised, I brought on the meditation expert today! I found Megan through the SALT Conference, listening to her presentation. And, I was hooked. You’ll see why in a second. First, a little bit about Megan.

Megan:

• a meditation and mindfulness teacher
• coaches women on how to find greater peace and presence in their busy lives.

I talk about meditation and mindfulness ALL THE TIME. I practice mindfulness because I love how it grounds me. But I am not a meditation expert in any way. Because you hear me talk about meditation and mindfulness, probably in every other episode, I figured getting an actual expert on the podcast was much needed.

Mindfulness for the busy mamas

The cool thing about Megan is that she is realistic about the busy-mama timetable. She gets that it’s probably going to be impractical for us to sit next to a river in our yoga pose doing the “ohmming” for an hour everyday. Because practicing mindfulness is so so important, Megan believes that there is a middle ground for normal human beings like you – who have to get things done and don’t have an hour every date to meditate.

“I’m like a go-go girl, I like to get stuff done. And I imagine a lot of your listeners are the same way. Getting present is not natural for me!

So many people think meditation is completely removing thought and being the dedicated yogi. But there are so many different types of meditation. For me, I love thinking of meditation as pondering. That’s money!

I use meditation to move out of the analytic mind where I’m always thinking and worrying, and into the subconscious. There I can ponder and train “the animal within” to listen to my cues and teach my spirit how to be master over my body and mind.”

How to ponder

Megan says you only need two minutes everyday day. Once you’ve gotten more practice and are more comfortable with meditation, you can of course increase that!

Meditation is going to be a bit uncomfortable at first because you’re used to being distracted and being unfocused. But just take a few minutes each day and you’ll have massive results. Not just in meditation, but outside of it as well.

“If you’re new, just take time where you turn off your phone and go somewhere quiet. Just be still for two minutes. I like to even turn on quiet music. Then think of a spiritual topic, think of your higher self, whatever you believe in and let that be the focus.

Whenever your brain starts to wander away from it, bring it back. As you train yourself to listen, you train that part of you that just wants to run away when you’re meditating.”

I love that Megan emphasizes pondering. It is such a good word to focus on. It helps you remember that you don’t have to be in a perfect set up. This makes mediation so simple and accessible to moms who are busy and have a million things on the to-do list. Twenty minute or two hour meditations are so daunting. You definitely can find two minutes in your day to focus on being present!

Live life in the present

It has been Megan’s call in life to figure out how to continue living in the present, mindfulness mode even when you’re not physically meditating – and share it with other moms. And I totally believe she’s figured it out! Rather than just a few minutes of meditation, Megan believes you can have a meditative experience all throughout life. 

“We have this pattern of rush. All of us are on this loop of thinking that we’re constantly behind or that we have so much to do. This constant loop has us feeling rushed and anxious.

So when we meditate, we’re disrupting that pattern. When you meditate, practice being okay with where you are. Tell yourself everything is where it should be and feed yourself a different story than what your brain is telling you. Your life begins to change as you disrupt those rush patterns!”

The power of focus

• When you’re with your kids, do you ever find yourself wanting to do work?
• Or when you’re with your husband wanting to clean your house?
• Or when you’re doing work, wanting to do all your tasks at the same time?

That doesn’t make you a bad mom or wife! It just means we’re constantly feeling this rush and sense of anxiety to get somewhere else. It just means you have to really allow yourself to practice presence.

“Focus is hard and takes a lot of discipline. It’s a lost art in our society. We don’t put a lot of emphasis on discipline anymore. We have to practice focus, finishing and being where we are. Imagine the power of a focused, energetic person.

It is a gift that you’re a doer. Now pair it with presence, discipline and focus – and you are unstoppable. And that will look like having a meditation practice where you practice being focused, during the day and when kids are with you too.

I personally think so many struggles we have as moms is the difficulty of getting present with our kids. They’re craving it! So get down on their level and have nowhere else to be but right there with them. The kids will act better, they will do better and you’ll have closer relationships with them”

All these things that Megan talked about aren’t really new to hear. They’re all things you probably know already, but just don’t remember when you get going in your busy day.

Last golden nugget from Megan: “Shoulds don’t really serve you.” Stop saying “I should clean the house or I should be playing with my kids.” while you’re already doing something. Pick the task you’re going to be in and be all in.

Love where you’re at and find gratitude in it. That is the biggest gift you can give to each part of your life! Being mindful will open yourself up to living your best life.

FIND MEGAN HERE

Podcast – Getting Mindful with Megan

Instagram.com/gettingmindfulwithmegan

Listen to the full episode here: