How to Meditate your Cares Away

Worldly woes will melt like butter in a microwave with an ounce or two of meditation. With enough practice, a person can extract herself from daily chaos, confusion and cussing about the electric bill and into a worry-free existence.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• A quiet, comfortable place to sit
• At least five minutes, more for more worries
• An open mind

1. Sit comfortably in a place devoid of distractions.
2. Shut your eyes, relax your shoulders and begin to breathe slowly and deeply.
3. Imagine a large, heavy, impenetrable box with a massive lid and a padlock. Open that box.
4. Picture your first worry, such as the electric bill, as a burlap bundle, twisted in twine. Put that bundle in the box.
5. Repeat with each bundle of worldly woe until all the bundles are packed tightly in the giant box.
6. Slam the lid. Lock the box.

Tips & Warnings

• Breathe. Remember to keep breathing, slowly and deeply, throughout the meditation.
• Sit with your back erect and either with feet on the floor or crossed Indian-style.
• Shut off the phone; do not answer the doorbell.
• As with any skill, meditation gets better, easier and more effective the more it’s practiced.
• Don’t worry about the bundles sneaking out of the box. They can only come out of the box if the person who put them there lets them come out.
• Don’t think if a person is one of the worldly woes in the box that they will suffocate. They will just be locked away from being annoying.
• Don't fret about losing the key to the padlock. It may be just what you need.