One of the most toxic things you can put in your body, negative thoughts.

I am not this spiritual hippie, unless you ask my daughter, that sits around listening to Grateful Dead and smoking pot all day. Even though I Iive in a state where it is legal I am just not there yet, and I am not really a dead head.

Many years ago while I was in the Marines I had to take a stress management class. The class was taught by this heavy set guy with bottle glasses that had a sweat stained polo on. It was only 8 am, and he was already sweating. He looked unorganized, and appeared to be stressing in the beginning.

My first thought, " who was this guy and how did he qualify to teach a stress management class?" In the middle of the room he closed his eyes and sat still for what seemed to be 5 minutes. While he was sitting there his breathing became slower and slower. Everyone looked at each because at one point it looked like he stopped breathing. Eventually he opened his eyes and began teaching the class.

The first lesson he taught was no matter what take time for yourself. He explained he was stressed, this was his first class, his a/c in his car broke, and it was hot and humid outside . He apologized for his appearance, due to moving all his stuff was still in boxes.

He said he was not quiet ready for the morning and when he got to class he started stressing. So the first 5 minutes of class he meditated to calm himself and control his stress levels. The rest of the class was about meditating and how to meditate.

It was a great class but I had to be there along with everyone else in the room. So needless to say it went through one ear and out the other. The idea and notion of meditating seemed a bit weird and unrealistic for me. Well needless to say I never did practice meditating.

If we can fast forward 20 plus years later, roughly two years ago. I was at my wits end so to speak. I was a huge ball of stress and anxiety. I was over weight and life was getting me down. Where was that pot and Grateful dead at? Then I remembered out of the blue that heavy set guy with the bottle glasses sitting in class meditating.

I thought well why not? So I youtubed meditating for beginners and found this video that was a guided meditation. I listened to that video every night for a week. At the end of the week I noticed I was less stressed, I controlled the thoughts better in my head, and I was not as anxious.

If this was only a week what would a month be like, or what about a year? I am happy to say 2 years later I am anxiety free. I look at life differently. I look at myself differently. I am at peace with my inner hippie.

During this growth in my life I realized one of the most toxic things we can put in our body is negative thoughts. Buddha was said to say, "Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace." I could write 10 more blog posts on why I felt the way I did. However this blog is on how I felt peace with in myself. This post is why my daughter calls me a hippie.

I learned to control the inner voice. I learned to find time for me. I learned that through meditation and positive thoughts we can become who we want to be.

I am guessing the proper ending to this post would be..
"Namaste"