Mercado - Healing grief through meditation

A Guide to Spiritual Wellness for the Bereaved

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Smashwords Edition

2015 by Lora C. Mercado

Healing Grief through Meditation, A Guide toSpiritual Wellness for the Bereaved

All rights reserved. No portion of this bookmay be reproduced by any means or in any form whatsoever withoutwritten permission from the publisher, except for brief quotationsembodied in literary articles or reviews.

Front cover photo Can Stock Photo /adrenalina

Author photo Joe Ciarrocchi

Marguerite Publishing

http://www.margueritepublishing.com

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Grief is complex and affects everyonedifferently. I have personally dealt with the unbearable pains ofgrief when I lost my infant son Alex in 2003, due to a congenitalheart defect. It has been a difficult road to travel, and often Iwonder how I made it this far, but I did.

There are several stages that a person willexperience when they are grieving and not one of them is easier topass through than the next. Another issue for people that aregrieving, is the fact that it is so easy to slip backwards when youare going through these stages. Grief is not a finite situationthat once a certain time has passed, a person will return to theirnormal personality that they had before the experience. Grief canforever change a person and it sometimes can take years beforesomeone has completely healed from grief; if they are ever able toheal completely at all. We have to come to terms with the fact thatour lives are forever changed and we need to learn to adapt to thenew normal that is put in front of us.

There are tools available that will help easethe pain that a person feels when they are grieving. Tools, such asmeditation, can be very powerful and helpful during this time andcan help teach you the things that you need to heal and move onwith your life. After suffering for a year with crippling sadnessand grief when my son passed away, a counselor recommendedmeditation to me. It has been extremely helpful in keeping myanxiety level at bay and it helps put me in a different frame ofmind. I have been able to cope with the loss more efficiently and Ifeel more balanced as well.

While the journey will never be easy, relyingon meditation can definitely help ease the burden of your pain andhelp you to find your way through the darkness that threatens toovercome you. Throughout this guide, we will discuss more aboutmeditation as well as how you can put it into action for you andyour grieving needs.

I wish you peace, comfort and healing.

~ Lora C Mercado

Meditation is something that has beenpracticed for centuries by people all around the world. Originally,it was used as a religious tool and can be dated back to the 5th or6th centuries in China and India. While it is usually considered anew concept in the west, it actually began surfacing around 20BC.

Over the years, meditation has grown greatlyin popularity. Though, many people do not truly understand whatmeditation is and how it can benefit a person. The most commonmisconception about meditation is that it is simply mentallyconcentrating on something. Another idea is that people meditate byfocusing on something that provides us with satisfaction orpeace.

These ideas do not truly capture the essenceof meditation. It is much more than simply sitting quietly andpondering something. In fact, it is a deep peace that a personenters into when their mind is completely calm and silent, butstill alert. Meditation is a process that a person goes throughthat helps them to gain a higher level of awareness than they hadbefore.

What Meditation Isnt

As previously mentioned, it is often believedthat meditation is when we concentrate on something and block outour surroundings. While concentration involves focusing on a singleobject for a long period of time, this is not true ofmeditation.

Meditation also does not involve losingcontrol of oneself as is commonly believed. In fact, meditationprovides quite the opposite effect because it helps us to gain evenmore awareness and control than we had before.

Another misconception is that meditation issomething that can be completed following a certain set ofexercises. Certain postures and breathing techniques are oftenused, but they will not substitute for real meditation.

What Meditation Is

Meditation is meant to be effortless. Thosewho truly practice it enter a state of awareness that is alsothoughtless. During this process, excessive stress that is producedby the activity that goes on in our minds can be neutralized, whilestill allowing for alertness.

Authentic meditation is the act of focusingon what is going on in the present moment rather than dwelling onthe past that cannot be changed or the future that cannot be seen.To achieve this, there are many different meditation techniques andmeditation relaxation techniques that can be used and it isdifficult to find the perfect one for everyone because they are sonumerous.

Why Choose Meditation

One of the best things about meditation isthat it has shown to be one of the best ways to eliminate stress inones life. Other stress relief methods have been studied for about70 years in western cultures, but none have been able toconsistently provide assistance like meditation has.

Over the thousands of years that meditationhas been in existence, the techniques have been developed, tested,and refined through hundreds of generations. Now, it has beenperfected in such a way that even common people are able to rely onit to create a tranquil peace of mind that can help improve theirlife.

Along with all the other benefits thatmeditation presents to those who rely on it, you will also see youroverall quality of life improve as well as your health. Many peoplehave even relied on meditation to help with pain relief and othermedical conditions that arent easily solved with modernmedicine.

How the Mind Works

One of the most difficult things to deal withwhen looking to heal from grief is the way that our minds work.Throughout the day, we all enter into different stages of thought.This means that our minds rise and fall depending on what iscurrently affecting our consciousness at the moment. Whether yourmind is focusing on your grief or something totally innocent, themind can quickly change from one moment to the next.

By using meditation, we can train our mindsto live in the moment rather than allowing our minds to wanderaimlessly throughout the day. Having this control over the mind canhelp us to manage some of the most difficult times when grief rearsits ugly head.

Consider for a moment a small child.Childrens brains work differently from adults. While they arecontent to play without worry, adults do not have this luxury. Wespend the majority of our time focusing on the stresses of lifewhere children are easily able to put them out of their mind. Thisis the state that meditation can help the most with.

Children are able to live with this mindsetbecause they live in the moment. They are not worried with the pastor the future; this is a learned habit that we place upon ourselvesas adults. However, with meditation, we can all return to a versionof this childlike carefree life that helps to eliminate thesymptoms of grief.