April 02, 2013
Alexia Isaak
Have you ever wished you'd made better decisions in a moment? You knew what you wanted to do, second guessed yourself, and did something else, only to regret
the decision later? Have you forced yourself to do or eat something out of peer pressure? I know I've done all of those things and more. I've spent plenty of my life living for others. I made most of my decisions based on what I thought would make others happy rather than what would make me happy.
After years of listening to a voice that focused on others, I ended up making many poor decisions, being unhappy, and lowering my sense of self-love and self-worth. Courage was not in my emotional vocabulary, and I became a professional push over.
I was fortunate to be exposed to a new way of being. About a year ago, I existed pretty well, but I wasn't happy. Things in my life weren't working in work or relationships. I was in constant termoil and knew something had to change. It was about that time that I was exposed to the Secret. My dear friend, Yana Reznik, told me about it, and she told me something I'll never forget and live by every day. She told me, "Things didn't start happening in my life until I started saying what I think!"
"Wow! Well, I never say what I think except maybe to my immediate family," I thought. In fact, I didn't really know what I thought about a lot of things because I had been making my decisions for others for such a long time. This was a revelation that would lead me onto a road of growth and recovery to rediscover myself.
I came home from that trip and dove into The Secret, which I still turn to a year later for wisdom and insights. One of the tools The Secret recommends to help you discover your happiness is meditation. For most of my life, I judged meditation as being too far out from my conservative upbringing. I was afraid of what I didn't know and avoided it, but now, as I had to try something new, I took the recommendation and started meditating just three to five minutes a day.
I didn't notice much at first, but after a while, I noticed I was more aware of my thoughts and feelings in any given moment. I was present when challenged to make spur of the moment decisions, and I heard my inner voice emerging. This gave me faith to make better and often more courageous decisions resulting in greater self-worth and self-love. I've been delighted with how my entire being is more healthy and balanced. Now I look forward to deepening and growing my meditation practice so I can experience greater depth in my personal enlightenment.
I encourage you to try meditation if you have not or recommit yourself to your meditation practice if you already meditate because you can!