Embracing Peace: Morning Habits, Meditation, and the Journey to Inner Serenity

Ever wondered how morning habits like hydration and vitamins could set the stage for a more productive and grounded day? Tune into our latest episode of Have a Cup of Johanny. Amidst the cozy backdrop of a Kentucky thunderstorm and the echo of late-night fireworks, join me on my transformative journey towards mental wellness. I'll share how integrating practices like meditation and yoga into my daily routine has led to profound emotional and spiritual clarity. From my beginnings rooted in Catholic prayer to overcoming initial hesitance about meditation with the help of guided apps like Headspace, discover how small victories in mastering breaths turned into moments of luxurious peace.

Listen to the trials and triumphs of quieting a perpetually busy mind, learning the art of self-compassion, and extending periods of tranquility. Whether you're struggling to meditate or seeking new ways to enhance your mental health, my story of finding solace through meditation promises to inspire. We’ll also explore how patience and consistent practice can unlock a calmer, more peaceful existence. Get ready to tailor your mental wellness journey, embracing the profound impact of guided recordings and daily habits that foster inner peace. Join me in making strides toward a more serene and fulfilling life.

Resources:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1274477/14265063

Enter a world of fear, resilience, and generational trauma in "The Devil That Haunts Me". Follow Isabella and Julitza as they confront their demons in a tale of suspense, mystery, and the supernatural.

Explore the first seven chapters here

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Oh we could, we could fly. Welcome to this new season of the have a Cup of Johani podcast. So I want to title this new season that I'm embarking on with I'm growing, so this is going to be the season of growth and that's what I'm going to share with you throughout the season. So I thank you for coming over here and sitting with me and I hope you enjoy. Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of have a Couple Johnny podcast, where every oops is really a gateway to uh-huh. Sometimes oh shoot, sometimes oh shoot.

Speaker 1: 0:45

This is episode two of our July mental wellness series. I sound like I'm a little bit under the weather, but I'm really. I'm not. I just I just woke up. I stayed up really late watching the fireworks yesterday, which I usually don't, and because of that, as soon as I wake up, I just have like all the oh my goodness, all the congestion happening and all of that all at once. So that's why I may sound a little bit different, but I'm chugging water, took my vitamins. You know part of my habits, my morning habits that help me to be grounded better and more productive, and if you want to know what those are, please go back to that episode of the habits that built me, so that way you can listen into that one and find out. But when we're coming into this episode, everything it really is tied in folks. Okay, because we're talking about, in July, mental wellness, and really these habits that I implanted into my life have a lot to do with that, with mental wellness, with just ensuring that not just my body but my mind and spirit as well as are all aligned. So today we're diving into the calming world of meditation and guiding recordings and you're not going to hear me do ASMR or anything like that, because I don't think I have the skills for that, you know, but that's out there as well, so that may be something that you do. Nevertheless, I'm super excited to share how these practices have played a crucial role in reinforcing my inner peace and my self-love, which really paid dividends into my life. So are you ready Because we're going to get super calm on this one Are you ready to dive into this peaceful, meditative, praying episode? Of course you are. I mean, why else would you be here? All right, let's go. So get cozy so that way we could talk about meditation.

Speaker 1: 3:24

I was very hesitant when it came to meditation, and you may have heard me saying that I just I couldn't quiet my mind. For as long as I can remember, there has always been something in my mind. I'm either thinking about to-do lists, I'm thinking about previous conversations, I'm thinking about anything thatdo lists, I'm thinking about previous conversations, I'm thinking about anything that I've said, I felt, seen, done. Whatever Something is always revolving and churning in there. So my mind, for as long as I can remember, has never really been a quiet place to pee in. There's nothing to do about the movie, but, as it happens and I want to say that there was, like this, one point where I just like sat down, cross-legged, you know, and did like 30 minutes of meditation and then it changed my life. But, folks, that's not what happened, and I would say that I don't think that's how it happens for most folks. And when it comes to my experience, my changes, my changes have been very gradual and sometimes like taking steps forward and then taking like a thousand back just to do another one forward later. So for me, my change in life has been more of like a caterpillar effect, where the caterpillar kind of looks as if it's going backwards before it goes forward. It's kind of like that, but? But because it was so hard for me to just have my mind quiet, I always thought that this was an unattainable thing for me to be able to meditate. I always thought that, and I conflated meditation with yoga as well a lot of the time, so I kept myself away from both as well. I'm still trying to dip my toes into yoga. That's a completely different conversation that we can have, but I think I'm still working through that one. As to building the confidence that I need to like get into that, but I see the benefits of yoga for both the body and the mind.

Speaker 1: 5:46

I don't know if the microphone is going to catch it, but there is thundering going on right now here in Kentucky. I'm loving it. It's like I need a cup of tea right now. I may just take a break recording and getting me a cup of tea and putting, bringing it into the booth. This is like the perfect environment to be talking to y'all and recording in my little garage closet. I love it. I love it. This is perfect right now, folks.

Speaker 1: 6:13

But yeah, so it didn't start it in a particularly stressful moment where it's like you see, right, the main character in a movie or in a book like turn around, turn around and go, like that's it. I'm going to sit for like 10, 20 minutes and no one bothers me, and then I'm going to learn how to meditate. And then they come out of the room like, oh, they go. No, that's not how it happened. It started for me, it really started with praying. So, while I don't practice it anymore, I was a practicing Catholic and I went through the rosary, the prayers and all of that and I will get on my knees by my bed that's how my grandma taught me that bit and then I will try to be as quiet as possible and have a conversation with God through prayer Later on, right? So let me give you a little insight into that.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Later on in life, once I started to tap into meditation and reading books about meditation as well, I learned that that same kind of rhythmic repetition of the rosary or certain prayers that other religions have it creates a sort of meditation vibe in the mind and in the body where one can really reach that zen, that peace, and be able to connect with a higher being, whatever name you give the higher being that you believe in. But as I was figuring it out, I really started through praying and I would notice that sometimes the voices, right, the things that were turning in my mind, were louder than other days. And as someone back then who didn't understand, really, the whole mental wellness and mental health, I would, and that just relied heavily on just religion, the Catholic practice of religion. I really I equated it to the devil trying to, you know, trying to put things in my head, or the devil trying to sway me one way or another. So that's what I equated and then, and so that's what I equated, and then.

Speaker 1: 8:42

So then it felt more like a failure when, like, I gave in to the devil, when I couldn't fully pray and fully invest my whole being into the prayer, because I allowed the chatter in my head to get in there and keep me from really listening to quote unquote, god, right, that voice from the creator, and so you see, so now, looking back at that, I'm like oh, wow, okay, I was really not giving myself credit for what little I was achieving and I think perhaps that didn't help me in getting better at finding quiet and inner quiet and inner peace, because, if you've heard me say this before, we should celebrate our small wins so that keep the momentum going and you can just exploit that into a bigger win later on. But I was not doing that because I just felt like I gave in to the devil. This is a failure on my part. I need to try again later on. I was literally like bullying myself into finding my inner peace through prayer and it didn't quite work.

Speaker 1: 10:04

And then, as life happens, and I kind of like went away from the prayer side of things and I started reading more metaphysical books, more meditation books, books that came from other trains of thoughts, other religions, other spiritual practices as well, and I started to tying a lot of things together from that self-discovery, that reading, and, like I said, I was able to ascertain that the prayer in itself is also a form of meditation where one can reach that inner peace. I just I was doing it wrong. And I say I was doing it wrong because I was chastising myself when I wasn't getting it right, as opposed to just allowing my brain, my mind, to wonder and then just kindly bringing it back. Because, like I've told you, all right, if you're kind to yourself, that's when habits, that's when things will stick. But if you bully yourself, if you chastise yourself, if you talk down to yourself and you're mean to yourself. It's just it's not going to stick because your own self is going to reject that. No one wants to feel like crap inside themselves. So four agreements, right, you heard me talking about that Other books but really what brought in meditation for me was sleeping hypnosis.

Speaker 1: 11:34

I think this app was discontinued. Let me look at my phone. This is so funny to me and it was like what was it? They were recording folks. I can't even find it right now. I detox my phone, right, so I don't even think I have it here. No, I do not. Oh, but it was like these recordings and they had helped me out. If y'all have seen this, let me know. Right, they had a blue. It was like a blue square, you know, on Apple, on the apps on Apple, and they all had like different kind of meditations like loose weight meditation, think positive meditation, what else I think in grow rich meditation, you know meditation, what else I think in Grow Rich Meditation? All of that, and it will be like repetitive sayings that will occur and at first I'm like I'm going to listen to it fully awake, because that can be the devil going.

Speaker 1: 12:34

I had all these ideas before and I had to protect my soul and all of that. And if you're like that, by all means listen to it, you know, before you fall asleep. So that way you really know what words are being said in there. So that way, if you agree or disagree right, if you disagree, then don't listen to it, and if you agree, then listen to it. But that's what I did. That was like my me putting my big toe in the door of meditation were those recordings and I loved it and for the longest folks, that's what I was listening to Calm myself, to listen to it before I went to sleep. Eventually they modify the app to where you can loop it and then I will loop it. So that way I would listen to that and that would quiet my mind enough to get a restful sleep.

Speaker 1: 13:29

But on top of that, I noticed that it was giving me confidence because I was listening to the Be More Positive one. It was certain ones that I would listen to that were my go-to, certain ones that I would listen to that were my go-to, and the Be More Positive one was one that I just kept on repeat, just because I don't know how I put this together in my head back then, but I just figured if I become more positive, it will help the other buckets that I have of my life. I knew that positivity was like the basis of everything. So if my basis can be a positive one, then everything that I will grow from there will be positive and then will give me confidence. That's how I kind of put it all together in my mind. So that's why that was my go-to, the think positive one, because I just knew if I think positive, money will come. If I think positive, confidence will come. If I'm more positive, peace will come and connections will come and things of that nature.

Speaker 1: 14:27

So that's what I did for years, to be honest with you, without calling it meditation, without calling it anything, I just knew that this was what was helping me to quiet my mind and to quiet intrusive thoughts and negative thoughts that would have hindered me from moving forward or that would have hindered me from making connections with other people. And then eventually I was like, let me try to do this while I'm awake, because, okay, you know, as I'm going to bed, as I'm getting tired, drowsy and sleepy, I can see it's working. But me I'm just, I'm never happy with just the status quo, like I always want to push myself. I noticed that that's been a thing with me, and even my sister told me she was like you know, you always, like, wanted to push boundaries. And she told me once she was like remember, when you get your rollerblade and you learn how to ride them, like I learned? According to my sister, I learned how to ride them very fast, I think within a day, but I wasn't happy with that. I needed to go from downtown all the way to home and then I needed to learn also how to jump off of stairs as well. And she was like and you just try things until you get burned. And yeah, yeah, that is true. Yes, yes, she was right, she was right. Something about your sisters, right, like sometimes they know you better than you do. Yes, yes, I do, I do want to try things. I do want to push boundaries until I know where that boundary is. I've always been very interested in that. Maybe that's why I joined the military. Somebody said that. I think it was my therapist. Those are the kind of people that joined the military. So that's, you know, consequential yeah, but yeah, so that that was me. I was like okay, I let me challenge myself to do it wide awake and to see you know what happens, just because I want to push myself and see what else I can achieve now. And it was a disaster. Achieve now and it was a disaster. It was a disaster, folks. Oh, my goodness, oh goodness, when I tell you I couldn't even do one second with it, because let me tell you what happens. Let me tell you what happens, and if you're, like me, one of those people that have like a hard time meditating, let me know.

Speaker 1: 19:15

When I got quiet, everything got so loud and that's the best way that I can explain it. Everything just got so inhumanely loud that it distracted me even more. You could hear a pin drop, and the pin drop will be super loud and then I will move towards that sound and see what was there. If the wind was going outside, forget about it. I could hear little branch that was on the floor hitting the window. Everything just became so loud, became so loud as soon as I started to do meditation and try to quiet my mind, and it was almost as if the elements didn't want me to do it and I was like working against the elements, just fighting back so honestly, like I went back to the nighttime, to the nighttime hypnosis thing.

Speaker 1: 20:19

Failure is rough, people. You know failure is rough, but it's not failure, right it's. I tried something and I went ahead and fell forward because I learned something from that. So I went back to my night hypnosis. You know cool. I know that works, but still it's como una puyita. It's like this little pinch, this challenge that just stays with me because it's just something in me. I want to push myself, I want to challenge myself and I know eventually that little pinch is going to happen again and I'm going to try again. I just know it. I just know it because I'm not going to be able to let it go. I will never be able to do this because I don't see it. I don't see it in me where I can't do something. I know that I can. I just need to figure out how. I guess that's why I've always been that person that pushes boundaries and challenges boundaries as a kid.

Speaker 1: 21:17

As it happened, I went ahead and it was like months I want to say like close to a year and then I started to looking into other apps. Eventually, covid happened and Headspace came into my peripheral, my consciousness, and I was able to get the app and I think later on the CEO was like I'm going to just give it for free. Oh, god bless the CEO, that was so good. I love people like that that are selfless, that see that was so good. I love people like that that are selfless, that see that a community, a country, is hurting we all going through something collectively and they see that they have something to give and they put capital gains to decide in order to help people. I love that. So, of course, I already had it downloaded and I was doing the free ones.

Speaker 1: 22:19

But when he did that, then I had a full array of recordings and things of that nature and I started with the five breaths. That right there, that the five breaths, and let me know if you have headspace, let me know. That's what I started with folks and it's something about like achieving something and feeling like I'm the shit. I did those five breaths and I did it peacefully and nobody could tell me anything. I was like I'm a meditation guru. Now I got this. Obviously, I didn't. It was five breaths, but it was the in that I needed. It was the in that I needed After doing those five breaths for so long.

Speaker 1: 23:16

Then I started to dip my big toe once again into other things, into other kinds of meditations that they had in the app, and I just kept pushing myself let me try to do it longer. And I noticed that my sweet spot was like 30 seconds to a minute before I would like lose the thread of that quietness and then my mind will start wondering. But when I gained that one minute of peace and of quiet, it was life changing, life-changing. It's something about allowing that peace to embody you from the inside out that I want to cry thinking about it, because it was that kind of experience. It's like a very spiritual when people talk about being close to God, being close to their creator and things of that nature. That's what I found in that quiet of one minute of my life. It's like it just opens your consciousness to understand so much more and it's almost like you see a little bit of your life unfolded and you start understanding certain things because you're finally quiet enough to be able to put the threads together. That's like the best that I can explain it. And it felt peaceful, it felt refreshing, it felt restful and it becomes like this thing that I want to continue to attain it's a high that you want to attain over and over and over and over, and I was hooked from those vibrates. I evolved into being able to do it for 30 seconds to a minute and I was hooked. I was like this is it, this is it, this is what will recharge me.

Speaker 1: 25:22

Now I am still not a meditation guru. I'm going to tell you that right now I'm still not. This is an ongoing struggle with me because I just my mind continues to chatter quite a lot. My mind continues to chatter quite a lot. So 30 seconds to a minute, I can do two minutes right now, and then my mind begins to wonder. But what I have learned through meditation is to let my mind wander and to bring it back. And some days when I give myself that grace, I can do like five minute meditations and it is the best experience of my life I'm not exaggerating with you Just to attain that quiet, that peace for five minutes. It is lush, lush, luxurious, and that's another way that I can explain it. It's like you're giving the gift of time.

Speaker 1: 26:21

Folks in quiet and in peace is something that is just, doesn't have a price tag on it and can be achieved with very little resources other than your mind giving yourself grace as you try to attain this peace, which was what I needed to understand. Because when I was able to give myself that grace to allow my mind to wander and then to bring it back into the quiet, then I was able to evolve into being quiet and peaceful for longer. Because as long as I continue to battle with my mind and thinking like it was, either my mind shatters or not, as opposed to, my mind will chatter and let it chatter, and I will still be able to acquire peace once I bring it back in. You see what I'm saying. I was looking at it as an either or, when it was more of an and sentence, and that's what was keeping me from evolving. But when I realized that seeing it all boils down to being kind to myself, kind and gentle and compassionate and giving myself grace, when I was able to understand that, then it just opened up more minutes for me.

Speaker 1: 27:46

So now is part of my habits that's one of my morning habits is to do that quiet bit, and sometimes I do very quick ones depending on my timing in the mornings. I like to do it after I go to the gym, just because I've already exerted myself out and it's a little easier to kind of calm down. And if you have seen me at the gym and you see me with my eyes closed and cross-legged, that's what I'm doing, because I'm also not very embarrassed about it anymore. Everyone that I meet, if they ask, or even if they don't ask, I tell them that I meditate. So I mean, like I said, I'm not a guru, but it's something that I do in order to help my mental health a lot. I also do it when I feel big emotions coming or when I know I'm gonna go through something that will bring me big emotions, and I take several breaths and I may listen to a meditation on another app that I use, which is Aura A-U-R-A, and that will ground me and calm my emotions so that way I can embark on a meeting or on a tough conversation or whatnot. So I do it when I need it, but I also do it proactively in the morning, because it's one of those things All my habits in the morning are habits that ground me, so that way I can have a better day.

Speaker 1: 29:19

It's like if I don't do that, I know that I'm leaving myself open to having poor reactions to things and with people. So that's why those habits are there. But I also, like I said, I also use meditation for a reactionary thing, to help myself if my emotions get unchecked, and also, once again, as a proactive thing before I go into events that I know are going to be super challenging for me. So meditation is a journey, folks, and if you hear my example, take this with you. Be patient with yourself, because it's not about doing it perfectly, but rather just that consistent practice doing it over and over and over.

Speaker 1: 30:12

Even on days when you're like me and your mind is just chattering, it's racing, it's saying all this nonsense, still take a few minutes to breathe deeply and that's going to make all the difference and acknowledge that your mind is racing, is having chatter. I often tell my brain I hear you, I know you're there, it's okay, let's be quiet together. It's like I have these self talks with my brain and sometimes that's what is needed. Sometimes what is needed is for you to acknowledge that is there, that self-awareness, and then all of a sudden, your brain will be like oh shoot, she heard me. Okay, well, let's be quiet Like a child that got caught doing something. Let's be quiet Like a child. Right, they get caught doing something.

Speaker 1: 30:58

But if you're looking to add a sense of calmness, of tranquility to your daily routine, oh my goodness, re-listen to this episode, because this is your episode, folks, and learn with me to embrace peace with meditation and guided recordings or hypnosis. Or you can tap into other practices as well, to see what works best with you, with you, with your life situation, with your personality, with your abilities, because everything that I have on this podcast are lessons learned from my experiences, my point of view, my abilities. For you, that may look different, and what I'm really trying to do here is to inspire people that have encountered the things that I've encountered to tailor it to themselves so that way they're able to help themselves, because, at the end of the day, sometimes that's all you have. I hate to say it, I don't want to end it that way. Sometimes that's all you have. I hate to say it, I don't want to end it that way. Sometimes that's all you have.

Speaker 1: 32:02

Nevertheless, thank you for joining me today on this mental wellness journey, and remember to check out the links. Look at the show notes, because I'm going to put some things there to guide you into some of the things that I used and some of the resources that I used. And until next time, let's take a deep breath and let it out. See how easy that was and be kind to yourself. You got this. Bye at this. Bye. Thank you so much for listening. I want to hear from you. Leave me a comment, do a rating if you can on the podcast, share it with somebody you love, but, most importantly, come back. See you next time. Bye.