This one is all about engaging music in the present moment. Take a moment and think of your favourite song, you know the one. When it plays on the radio, you are totally in tune with it. It feels as though it feeds your soul.

The Powerfulmind.co defines soul exhaustion as "ongoing feelings of exhaustion that can be caused not just by a busy schedule, but also a mismatch between your emotional needs and your lifestyle."

Are you aware of a mismatch in your own life? Consider what misalignment feels like for you.

Consider what does your body, mind and spirit need in this moment? Maybe it is rest, or movement, or stillness. Maybe it is patience or healing or love

Listen to what your body is telling you about your pain, about your life, and about your awareness in this moment.

We can train the brain to create some space between thoughts. Also creating space before fight or flight response is triggered. All of which is good for our overall well being and mental health.

Meditation is my relief, my stillness, and my enhanced awareness. It is also my means to help reduce the mental chatter.

Healing from grief is not a linear straight forward path. It can be complex and uncertain. You can feel like you are making progress and then something happens and it suddenly hits you all over again with intense sadness and pain.

Letting go of judgement is probably one of the most profound learnings as a result of meditation. This automatic reflex is one that takes practice to observe and bring awareness to. This is definitely the most challenging aspect of meditation for me. Even after I meditate, I can easily put judgement on the experience.

The institute of mindful leadership defines a mindful leader as “someone who embodies leadership presence by cultivating focus, clarity, creativity and compassion in the service of others.”

Probably one of the most surprising outcomes about this meditation journey, given my analytical, logical and practical nature, was a closer connection with my own creativity. It took some exploring and a lot of discomfort before I realized how meditation has helped me find my balance, including my creative side. When I was younger, I would have never imagined putting myself out there in any creative capacity.

There is a Zen proverb that goes:

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day – unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour.”

Time is such a tricky thing. There never seems to be enough of it. It is also a challenging concept as it relates to meditation. The challenge in finding the time to meditate, the challenge in sitting with your meditation for the entire time and the challenge of many distractions we face that take us away from meditation.

Let us explore the possibility of sleep. A sleep meditation can help you settle your mind, relax your body and regulate your breath.