Finding Headspace by Kait Carson

In the not so distant past, I held a job where I worked twelve-hour days. It was hectic. I regularly juggled a twenty-five client case load. Much of the work was litigation. All of the work had deadlines. Some tighter than others. I lived in fear of missing deadlines, which in my world, the legal world, could result in our team receiving a default. In other words, miss the deadline, the other side wins. No contest, no appearance. The consequences were real.

 

Learning to cope in that environment was an artform. I organized my days with the precision of a general planning a battle. There was no room for error. It took a toll. I longed for the days when my time would be my own, but knew that day was far off. For Christmas, my husband gave me a gift of a year of an app named Headspace.

 

Headspace is a meditation app. There is no more grounded person on the face of this earth than my husband. For him to gift me with something that smacked of “New Age” was a revelation. No, he hadn’t tried it, but he’d read up on it, researched it, and thought I would find it useful. I’d meditated in college and on and off afterwards, but the thought of meditating for stress reduction never crossed my mind.

 

I tried it, I liked it, I used it for a while, and it helped. At some point, my schedule got so crazy that I couldn’t fit meditation time into it. I cancelled the membership and that was that. I thought.

 

In July of 2020 COVID happened and my very demanding day job went away. We moved to Maine and I celebrated. Finally, I thought, I’d have time for myself. And I did. All twenty-four hours of the day spread before me in all their glory. I could use them as I saw fit. Bwa haa ha. Or as the fates said, “Yeah. Right.” There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I had all those hours, I had huge plans for all those hours, I let all those hours distract me.

 

I need organization. I crave it. I make lists. I make outlines. I check the boxes. I get in my own way. I needed to shut down the noise and use the time I had. In an attempt to gain time, I went back to my library of books on the Law of Attraction. This is a simple concept that essentially says be careful what you think, it’s coming. It’s an effective process made more effective through meditation. Easy peasy. Nope.

 

Using the techniques in Sarah Hertz’s book The Universe Always Delivers Twice I made some headway, but not enough. I decided to add in a dedicated meditation period and I rejoined Headspace. Now I greet the morning with a meditation period during which I solidify the plans and desires for the day. It’s made me more peaceful and productive. If I find myself going astray, or getting in my own way, a simple five-minute meditation break helps me focus. At the end of the day, I find most of the items on my to-do list are accomplished and I’m refreshed and ready to spend time with family and friends.

 

Do you have an unorthodox practice to help you organize and get through your day? Tell us about it.