Crocodile Meditation

Have you ever had one of those weeks you wish you could do over? A few too many sighs and mis-steps. Maybe, like me, you wake up on Monday morning with a few unexplainable bruises. Words were spoken out of frustration, out of fear, taken out of context, taken as criticism. Interactions refused to stay on the conversational path they set out on but instead careened off into the bramble where only the darker ideas live and multiply. Thoughts were mini daggers behind the curtain of your eyelids held in only by lashes closed tight in frustration. A certain point is reached where it's forgotten that peace is just right there waiting for you. One day turns into four turns into smack in the middle of day seven and you still struggling to keep a nose above water.

It's at this moment I highly recommend Crocodile Meditation (not to be confused with Crocodile Rock). Crocodile Meditation takes place in water, the bathtub. Crocodiles love lavender scented bubble bath. Fill the tub with the perfect temperature water and bubbles enough to hide under. Either devoid of clothing or in your favorite swim gear, slip into the water and submerge your body almost completely. Only your head from the nose up should remain above bubble level. Make sure to tilt your head back so that your ears can hear nothing but the underwater sound of your own breathing. Close your eyes or stare into the bubbly clouds and breathe slowly and peacefully through your nose. That is all. Stay there until your fingers are all pruny and you can finally hear that small voice in your head. The one that's always there telling you everything will be alright. That's the voice so easily lost in the noise of daily life but it's the only one you should be listening to.

Oh, and we do get a do over! Every day, every week is a new opportunity. Don't waste any more time in regret.  The truth is that every minute is new. Nothing ever stays the same, the good or the bad. The trick is to realize this in the middle of it all.