8 Tips to Improve the quality of your life – by Ana Baretto

The following came from a meditation on Insight Timer by Ana Baretto. You can find this full 30 minute meditation on the free meditation app Insight Timer. I’d like to say I use this meditation app every day – I don’t. I use it when I remember and that is enough. There are more than 5000 different meditations to choose from – I always find something to suit the mood. She wrote this meditation with women in mind, but really none of these tips are gender specific.

These are some notes I have made – but it is worth making time to listen to her whole meditation as she has many valuable messages.

1. Create a sacred space for yourself. This can be in the bedroom, shed, study. Something that is just for you. Fill it with your favourite things and use that space to read, meditate, do craft or just spend some time alone. She didn’t say this but I am sure you could secretly drink wine here as well. She did say that you need to clean, clear and bless this space.
2. Meditate – When you meditate you stop your thoughts. This is helpful to reframe your thinking, calm your mind and take time out for you. When you first begin to meditate start slowly, 5 minutes may be enough to start and you can lengthen this as you get better. She also recommended morning meditation to set yourself up for the day. I have found this the best way to go and it is helpful when you start to lose your sh!t during the day to remember to calm down and breathe. I put headphones on and an eye mask so that my family can see that I don’t want to be interrupted. I still get asked questions like “How do I get all this mud off my shoes?” and “Do you know where my homework book is?” I find a long Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm is usually enough to scare this person off.
3. Learn to ask for help – this is a tricky one to for many people. She explains that doing everything perpetuates the victim mentality and really gets whiny, whiny. I spent years saying I do everything around here,  until I realised I didn’t actually do everything, nor did I have to do everything! Asking for help, Ana explains, allows your friends and family to practice acts of kindness. I love helping people, it makes me feel good. Let your friends and family help you. Go ahead and ask “Would you…”

4. Trust your intuition – This is a big one. She explains that the more you listen to your inner guidance the more guidance you will get. I really like that. Should I have the mushroom or the pepper sauce on my steak? Always the pepper, says my inner guide. She also explains in a brilliant way how to distinguish your inner guidance from your inner critic. Seems that the inner critic is the nasty one and the inner guidance is much kinder.

5. You have as much time as you think you do – How often do we say “I just don’t have time”, ” I ‘m too busy, ” “I wish I could but I have so much on.”  This is all about scheduling time for yourself,  for time out, or down time. Once you schedule it in, you have as much time as you need.

6. Create a practice of gratitude. We hear this so many times that there must be something in it. Studies also show that people who pray or have faith are happier and live longer. Ana says it is impossible to feel fearful and grateful at the same time. She recommends saying 10 each night, sometimes I am flat out having one thought at night. Yes. Bed. Good. So maybe try three. Three is a pretty easy number and can even be “I am grateful that I am alive, healthy and happy.” Unless of course you are not healthy or happy, in which case you could just be thankful that you have a bed and you are lying in it.

7. Let it go. We all carry stuff that we no longer need, or no longer serves us, or is not for our higher good. We carry people, things and emotions we don’t need to anymore. Some of them may be ” I’m not good enough” “I’m fat” “ I can never run my own business” “ I will never have enough money”. When we change  our lives we have to discard some of our old thoughts as well. She also recommended removing clutter from our homes, cupboards and minds. I chose to ignore that. I need all my stuff. I think that could be helpful advice for some people.

8. Share your gifts – This was a nice one. I don’t think it means at Christmas you have to give everything away – it was more about discovering your unique gifts and sharing them with the world. You may think that your gift isn’t large or good enough to share, but we all have something to offer, even if it is just kindness, a smile, or a compliment. I once told a lady at the airport I liked her shoes. I heard her telling someone else and she was really chuffed about it. She was pretty old and she had silver sneakers and that made me happy. Tell people in your life the things you like about them, because they are probably listening to their inner critic all day and it’s always nice to hear something genuine and surprising about yourself.