ONE OF MY TOUGHEST CHALLENGES YET

I've lifted super heavy weights, have done reps until I thought fire was going to shoot from my muscles, ran tons of sprints at top speed, gasping for air. But this week I faced one of my toughest challenges yet ... and I didn't move a muscle or break a sweat. Curious yet? I started a 30-day Meditation challenge. Yes that's right. I, Cara "Superwoman, can't sit down, doing too much" Fullerton, committed to at least 10 minutes of stillness every day. Not sleeping. Focusing. Focusing on my breath. Not "thinking" about anything. Sounds easy doesn't it. NOT! Try it. Seriously ... it's difficult. When I tried it for the first time my mind went every where from the pain in my ankles from sitting crossed-legged to what I was going to wear to work to how much time was left in my 10 minutes of stillness to that email I had to send to whoever. I made it through the 10 minutes though. And have done it every day since I started last Monday. In fact, on Saturday I did it three times ... once in the steam room at the gym! For those who don't meditate you're probably asking yourself why I'm doing it. Well, there is too much going on in my brain and I believe it's causing me to disconnect from myself. I want to reconnect with Authentic Cara. My friend Jackie Dumaine (www.stillnessroom.com) started this challenge and has been subtly harassing me to join. (I would say this to her face ... it was annoying at times ... heehee.) I finally took her up on it because I felt so scrambled. There are some negative things going on in my life that I needed to take care of. I had lots of ideas and thoughts in my head. I didn't know how to put it all together. I was overwhelmed. It was affecting me psychologically, emotionally and worst of all, physically. It impacted my fitness and how well I performed when I trained. It will be interesting to see how meditation will change my LIFE. I've been told by many who practice meditation that with consistency it will make a huge impact. Now I don't know if my one week of meditation has changed anything yet. All I know is I had a great week, I look forward to my 10 minutes of stillness everyday, and I'm looking forward to another great week ahead. I've been working so hard on my BODY ... it's time to work on my MIND and most importantly my SPIRIT.