Meditate on This

By: Alejandro R.

Do you practice meditation? I haven’t always, let me tell you about my experience with meditation. When I was told about meditation I though it was a religious act like praying, I was wrong my lack of knowledge kept me from even trying it. As time passed my curiosity towards meditation began to grow, the more I heard people tell me about it the more intrigued I became. I did my research and I learned that meditation was not a religious act but a method used to relieve stress and how effective it is in the society we live in. A society filled with sensory over-stimulation that comes with the use of phones, watching television and our everyday busy schedules. When I decided to give it a try it was a bit difficult because I was not able to clear my mind, there was too much going on up there. I tried videos, music and a few podcasts but nothing helped I thought that meditation was not for me. I did not give up on it instead I continued to do more research and I found some information that stated that I should let all of my thoughts flow. The key was to let myself engage in the thinking process but not to judge the thoughts that were flowing through my mind. The way that I saw it was that it was a type of purge and that I was letting all of my negative thoughts out. I started to feel a difference in my energy level and in my thought process, through out the day I felt amazing. With the success I was having in the way that I meditated I felt like I had it all figured out, that is until I sat down with my sister-in-law and had a “conversation.” (More like an argument) Her claim was that the correct way to meditate was to completely clear your mind, of course I told her that it was impossible to and argued that we have to allow all of our thoughts to flow. This conversation made me question my methods, so I did some more research and I found out that she was right! And so was I, at this point I realized that I had just began to scratch the surface of meditation and that I knew nothing about the subject. It turns out that there are different types of meditation and that the one that a person does totally depends on them and what methods work for them. Meditation is in my opinion an amazing way to not only get rid of stress, but a way to get to know yourself, and a way to get closer to nature and yes I know that it makes me sound like a hippie, but it is true. I have tried a few different types of meditation other than letting my thoughts flow, I have tried a method where I focus on sounds of nature and my surrounding which is why I said that it helps you get closer to nature.

Here are some types of meditation that I have tried:

1. Letting yourself engage in the thought process- this allows me to watch myself engage in the process. I just let my thoughts flow without judging myself for having any types of thoughts.

2. Focusing on the sounds of nature-this allows me to forget about anything and everything that might be going on in my life and return to basics, this allows me to attack any issue with an open and fresh mind.

3. Picturing myself in a calm place-in other words go to my happy place, this allows me to escape my current reality and recharge. This method always has me feeling fully energized and ready to tackle any issue with a clear mind (this one is my personal favorite.)

There are so many types that I have yet to try but as I continue to create a meditation routine I plan on exploring other methods.

I think that everyone should meditate and yes I do understand that we all live very busy lives but all I takes is 5 minutes and trust me the difference will be felt immediately. I encourage you to do your research and find the method that works best for you.

Please enjoy the step by step list I have created for you it is simple and it takes 5-10 minutes the length is completely up to you. The method I share with you is the mental imagery method in other words, the one where you picture yourself in a calm place.

Meditation for beginners:

1. Find a comfortable place to sit I recommend a chair or you can sit on the floor (make sure you are not too comfortable so that you don’t fall asleep)

2. Set a timer for the desired amount of time you wish to meditate (I recommend 5 minutes to start with)

3. Close your eyes and picture yourself on a quiet mountain top on a warm day, feel the breeze softly hit your cheek, let the sound of it soothe you as you stare into the horizon now let your imagination start filling in the surroundings allow yourself to hear the birds chirping or the sound of the rushing water of a nearby river. Enjoy the scenery use this time to recharge and clear your mind.

Please leave me your feedback on here and on my instagram page @blankstare_blog all comments are appreciated.

A Letter To Myself

I would like to tackle the mental health awareness week (oct.7- oct.13) by writing a letter to my younger self letting him know it’s going to be ok.

Dear 13 year old,

I am writing you this letter to let you know that everything is going to be ok, all that you have to do is keep pushing forward. Your days are dark and lonely and I know that being the oldest is tough but trust me everything you do is amazing. How do I know? Well to start off you turn out to be a strong man, a driven man capable of showing love. You get to meet a the most perfect person and guess what! You get to marry her, and the best part is that she lets you touch her butt. As for your siblings, well they turn out great and make you proud. Apparently they pay attention to everything you do, but you do good. You have a sister that is tough, and even though we end up in two completely different worlds she makes great attempts to understand you. Also, she moves to california by herself can you believe that? Talk about balls right? Your brother, well where can I begin? He does struggle to find himself as we all do at one point or another in our life and I would like to believe that I have helped ease his journey. So far it seems like he is finding what he needs in order to succeed. Now the youngest, he has had a few bumps along the way as we all have, but he gets through them just fine and he seems to be motivated to continue his education and make something of himself. There will be struggles that you will have to help them through at the same as you try to work though your own. I am writing this letter to let you know that you will not become a victim of your childhood where you witnessed drug and alcohol abuse. You will not become a victim of an attempt that you to kept a secret. Also to let you know that all of those nights that you lie awake wondering if your life will ever get better will become but distant memories. It is important that you know that “it is ok to not be ok,” everything you feel is real and not an overreaction like your dad makes you believe. When you meet the right person, she will help shine light to the darkness that lingers inside. She will help you understand yourself and support you through anything and everything, she will help you put together the jumbled mess that is your mind and turn it into something beautiful. I know that at the moment you feel alone and as if nobody understands you, they don’t. How can they? Your siblings live in a fantasy of a perfect family. As If they are at a play and you are the curtain protecting them from seeing the ugly truth behind the scenes. Yes, it feels lonely at the moment but hang in there soon it won’t be, soon you will find a blessing that will help you understand that there is nothing wrong with needing to ask for help.

This has been a long and tough journey for me because there have been moments where I thought I had overcome my darkness just to have it come back even worse. This is a struggle that I am glad I have had to go through because in a way it has made me the man I am today. I have learned so much about myself in the worst of these times, I have learned that I am strong and that there is nothing that can take me back to that.

I want to thank my wife for helping me find myself and supporting me through everything, now all there is left to do is grow together and be happy.

This is a message to anyone that is going through rough times, the reality is that you might not be overreacting, “it is ok to not be ok” it does not make you weak if you seek out help it may even save your life.(I did not make that up I read it somewhere I just don’t remember where otherwise I would give credit.)

Along the way I have learn some activities that have helped me:

1. Meditation

2. Exercise

3. Reading

4. Nature (you can learn so much about yourself through nature)

The trip

On September 24th at five in the morning I woke up with a plan in mind which was to pack up and take a road trip, and where exactly were we going? Let me back track a few days when my wife and I were having a conversation about what we were going to do for our anniversary this year and we had come up with the idea of taking another trip to the Oregon coast but we decided not to because I wanted her to focus on the homework that she has for her math class. So we had agreed that these few days that we had off were going to be spent working on ourselves and homework. The night before I brought it up again because it seemed like a good chance to get away from our normal routine and I realized that it could help me find time and the creativity to work on writing, but once again we decided that we should just stay home, in reality the one that shot down the idea was myself even though I was the one that brought it up. After going to bed still thinking that it would be a good idea I thought we should go but this time I kept it to myself and went to sleep. The next morning as I mentioned earlier at 5 a.m., I woke up to use the restroom and thought to myself well we have nothing to do for the next few days so I went back to bed and as I was about to lie down my wife asked me if I was feeling ok and I responded yes I’m fine and proceeded to tell her that we will be taking the trip she said ok we can plan it when we wake up, my idea was to leave within 2 hrs so that we could arrive at Seaside at an early time. Of course it took my wife by surprise and asked me if I was being serious I assured her that I was. As we were packing we noticed that there were some things that we needed to go buy for the trip. After a quick trip to walmart we grabbed breakfast, fueled up our car and we were on our way, just to let you know we went to bed at 1 a.m. the night before so with only 4 hours of sleep we embarked on our road trip adventure. We have been to the coast before, to Newport, Oregon and this time we decided to go to Seaside. Honestly the drive was brutal because I was extremely tired by the time that we arrived, but for the sake of not just sleeping our first day there away I just had myself a strong cup of coffee and we went to beach and the downtown area. On every trip that we take after we check out our destination we always try to find the nearest grocery store (Travel Hack: to stretch your dollar) that way we can save a bit by buying food and snacks instead of going out for every meal. Trust me you will save money by doing this, the way that we try out places to eat is by doing some research and planning out our days and deciding what meal we will be replacing with grocery store food. The way that we decide what places we try is by reading the reviews online and also looking at the pictures of the food (this method has not failed us yet). One of the restaurants that we tried this trip was, Fultano’s pizza: this pizza was good the one we ordered was called the Mona Lisa it consisted of pepperoni, Canadian bacon and 3 cheese blend with red sauce. This pizza was good with every bite a delicious flavor of the seasoning and the melted cheese, the crust had a delicious crunch to it. Even though this was not our favorite pizza, we went back to the place because the restaurant also had an arcade and with the sweet memories of when my wife and I had just started dating we decided that we would have an arcade date like the “good old days.” The other restaurants that we decided to try was one that was suggested to us by my sisters-in-law it is called Harbor Pizza- yes the theme for this trip seems to have been pizza. This pizza was the one of the best pizza that I have ever had it was so delicious the pizza we got was called the tropical delight which had hickory smoked ham and pineapples on it. Now this pizza had an amazing flavor, the ham and the pineapple made a delicious combination with the melted cheese and the crispy crust, the best way it can be described is as my sister-in-law described it;

“it was so good I think about it twice a day.”

This is a restaurant that I would recommend to anyone and everyone that has plans to go to Seaside. It wasn’t until the last day that we decided to try fish and chips and clam chowder because the chowder that we tried in Newport was amazing now even though I have never tried clam chowder in my life I knew that the best chowder was only available at the Oregon coast. To conclude the trip my wife and I sat at the beach and watched the sunset, it was so beautiful watching the sunset over the ocean, as it made the sky light up with the warm glow of reds, yellows and oranges and finally changing the sky to a dark blue tint. This trip has been one of the most relaxing ones that we have been on for a while I am glad that we decided to go.

The Journey Begins

Hello everyone, my name is Alejandro and welcome to Blank Stare where I will be sharing my life with you in the form of experiences, likes, dislikes, adventures, memories, goals and ideas. The reason that I named this blog blank stare is because I have no idea what I am doing, but hey we can pretend. Here is what to expect from me, in other words let me tell you a bit about myself, I enjoy traveling so from time to time I will be doing reviews on places that I have traveled to and I will also post pictures. My wife tells me that I have a life story that is worth telling so I will be sharing parts of my life starting with my childhood. 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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