meditation - visualization

4law
4law Member Posts: 110
edited March 2014 in Spirituality, Prayer, and Meditation #1
Although I do not believe in a divinity, during my 5 weeks of radiation, during treatments, I thought of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam and visualized God's finger zapping away my cancerous tumor.

Recuperating from my surgery and struggling with a temporary colostomy bag, I was very depressed, had difficulty adjusting to the bag and had numerous accidents. My bedroom overlooks a small wood and in Jan. 2005 a very wet snow fell, clinging to the trees in the late afternoon. The snowflakes were large, wet and soggy. An ostomy nurse was visiting me and remarked how pretty and peaceful the scene was. I was lying in bed, and we both just stared out the window, watching the snow fall. It was peaceful, and my fears, unhappiness and depression started to melt away. She reminded me how lucky I was to have such a great view and suggested I think back on that moment and remember the peaceful scene and calmness of the moment. Every now and then, when needed, I close my eyes and think back to that afternoon and picture the snow falling and the pretty scene, and find I am able to relax, calm down and find a few moments of peace.

Comments

  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    #2
    Snow creates another world
    During and right after a snowfall, it is like another world. Everything is quieter and cleaner, more peaceful. It's amazing how it changes even places that aren't so pretty into lovely places. When we lived in the north I always took a picture of the first snow fall. I have one of the trees with their branches each one coated. It was lovely.
  • kimby
    kimby Member Posts: 797
    #3
    Joy
    I call those moments of true joy. Those moments of joy, strung together create the illusive one - happiness. Savor all of them, the large one like you describe and the small ones. It is amazing how beautiful the world is, even in canzerLand. Joy. Gratitude. Hope.

    Kimby
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #4
    Nature
    Nature surely can Nurture.
    It can just create such a calming effect. I thought was great what your nurse said to you. I bet it helped numerous times.
    This isn't snow but it was after an ice storm. I love how the icicles are bending from the wind and how they captured the sunrise'

    ice

    This one captured some of the depth of the snow. I think we had well over a foot, maybe 18 inches or so.

    back_yard
  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    #5
    PhillieG said:

    Nature
    Nature surely can Nurture.
    It can just create such a calming effect. I thought was great what your nurse said to you. I bet it helped numerous times.
    This isn't snow but it was after an ice storm. I love how the icicles are bending from the wind and how they captured the sunrise'

    ice

    This one captured some of the depth of the snow. I think we had well over a foot, maybe 18 inches or so.

    back_yard

    Beautiful sunrise! Isn't it
    Beautiful sunrise! Isn't it odd being different when you think of the sky as always being blue? I painted a picture for my sister of her house and I made the sky orange for the sunset.
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #6
    Marcia527 said:

    Beautiful sunrise! Isn't it
    Beautiful sunrise! Isn't it odd being different when you think of the sky as always being blue? I painted a picture for my sister of her house and I made the sky orange for the sunset.

    Never really thought of it like that
    But you are so right Marcia. You never see and orange sky during the day, which is probably a good thing. I love sunrise, sunset, sundogs, everything!
    Here's a good sundog. Does anyone ever notice them?

    Sun dog

    Can you post a photo of your painting?
  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    #7
    PhillieG said:

    Never really thought of it like that
    But you are so right Marcia. You never see and orange sky during the day, which is probably a good thing. I love sunrise, sunset, sundogs, everything!
    Here's a good sundog. Does anyone ever notice them?

    Sun dog

    Can you post a photo of your painting?

    bea-u-ti-ful rainbows
    I don't have a picture of the painting and my sister lives in another state. It's just a hobby anyway. But I do have a picture of a double rainbow. Is that what you mean by a sundog? Are sundogs rainbows?

    image
  • RE
    RE Member Posts: 4,591 Member
    #8
    IMAGERY
    Here is one of my favorites, it just has a calming effect on me. When we were there I sat for nearly an hour just listening to the waterfall, it was mesmerizing.

    image
  • tonybear
    tonybear Member Posts: 90
    #9
    those pics to calm
    on my windshield beside the oil change sticker i keep a small pic of a beach, a small row boat with some palm trees. many times while driving around the dallas fort worth area i look up and my eye catches it and it reminds me that there is a place of peace and serenity. at 75 mph rush hour traffic i can't day dream to long............ lol, but it helps me to relax, slow down and get in the slow lane. then i remember it's not about the money, the job or dead lines. someday i hope to live in a place like that pic. the best to ya'll. tony
  • nigebirch
    nigebirch Member Posts: 1
    #10
    tonybear said:

    those pics to calm
    on my windshield beside the oil change sticker i keep a small pic of a beach, a small row boat with some palm trees. many times while driving around the dallas fort worth area i look up and my eye catches it and it reminds me that there is a place of peace and serenity. at 75 mph rush hour traffic i can't day dream to long............ lol, but it helps me to relax, slow down and get in the slow lane. then i remember it's not about the money, the job or dead lines. someday i hope to live in a place like that pic. the best to ya'll. tony

    Just a photo to calm
    Just a photo to calm
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #11
    Marcia527 said:

    bea-u-ti-ful rainbows
    I don't have a picture of the painting and my sister lives in another state. It's just a hobby anyway. But I do have a picture of a double rainbow. Is that what you mean by a sundog? Are sundogs rainbows?

    image

    Sundogs
    this explains it well. It has to do with ice crystals. You'd be surprised how many times they are there and unnoticed by many. I see them often (along with the pink elephants)
    :-)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog

    This site is even better, lots of photos. I've seen a few different things like arcs and iridescent clouds.
    http://www.atoptics.co.uk/

    Double rainbows are great too.
    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3147/3079660669_88ffb9e0f9
    (add a dot jpg at the end of the link, CSN won't allow links to images anymore)
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #12
    The 5 minute vacation
    I guess that could be like a form of meditation. Focusing on serene and peaceful scenes can definitely be calming and lower blood pressure. Back when I was in junior high, I remember a wacky teacher I had (he was wacky, but he was a favorite of everyone's)- anyhow, he used to always have us take a "5 minute vacation", as he called it. Every now and then when the class was acting up, he'd call out "5 minute vacation!" I think he actually needed it more than the class, but he'd make us all get silent, close our eyes, and "journey" to the place in our minds that gives us the most peace and joy. We'd have to imagine ourselves there and think nothing except peaceful thoughts while visualizing this peaceful place for 5 minutes. Probably most kids didn't actually do it, but I did and still remember the experience.
    Now, if I find I'm in need of a rest or want to destress- I'll go find a quiet place and take my five minute vacation. You should all try it!

    Lisa
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #13
    lisa42 said:

    The 5 minute vacation
    I guess that could be like a form of meditation. Focusing on serene and peaceful scenes can definitely be calming and lower blood pressure. Back when I was in junior high, I remember a wacky teacher I had (he was wacky, but he was a favorite of everyone's)- anyhow, he used to always have us take a "5 minute vacation", as he called it. Every now and then when the class was acting up, he'd call out "5 minute vacation!" I think he actually needed it more than the class, but he'd make us all get silent, close our eyes, and "journey" to the place in our minds that gives us the most peace and joy. We'd have to imagine ourselves there and think nothing except peaceful thoughts while visualizing this peaceful place for 5 minutes. Probably most kids didn't actually do it, but I did and still remember the experience.
    Now, if I find I'm in need of a rest or want to destress- I'll go find a quiet place and take my five minute vacation. You should all try it!

    Lisa

    5 minute vacation
    That's funny Lisa, I bet he did that mainly for himself but also to try to get others to quiet down. Right after high school I practiced TM, Transcendental Meditation, it helped me be calmer and also made my mind more alert. I should get back into it (along with 50 other things I should get back too). Currently, my brother who got me into the TM has become a Zen Buddhist. He studied for years and converted a few months ago. It's not like he shaved his head or anything but he just embraced the whole meditation thing. He will go on week long trips to the monastery in NY state and they meditate for about 12 hours a day in 3 hour intervals. It requires a lot of discipline but I think it has helped him a lot.

    Getting back to what your teacher did. I wonder if that would fly these days? People would complain that it's either prayer or not prayer so it probably would not be allowed.
    -p
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #14
    PhillieG said:

    5 minute vacation
    That's funny Lisa, I bet he did that mainly for himself but also to try to get others to quiet down. Right after high school I practiced TM, Transcendental Meditation, it helped me be calmer and also made my mind more alert. I should get back into it (along with 50 other things I should get back too). Currently, my brother who got me into the TM has become a Zen Buddhist. He studied for years and converted a few months ago. It's not like he shaved his head or anything but he just embraced the whole meditation thing. He will go on week long trips to the monastery in NY state and they meditate for about 12 hours a day in 3 hour intervals. It requires a lot of discipline but I think it has helped him a lot.

    Getting back to what your teacher did. I wonder if that would fly these days? People would complain that it's either prayer or not prayer so it probably would not be allowed.
    -p

    probably right
    You're probably right, Phil, except that it really didn't seem like a "meditation" type experience, although it really probably was. If it had seem "new agish" at all, then my mom would have been the first one in line to complain. I don't think I ever even mentioned it to my mom because it didn't give me any kind of weird feeling- it was just relaxing!
    I think with fond memories of that teacher! As I taught myself for 18 years up until my diagnosis, I hope that some of my students also remember me fondly. Having taught elementary school, though, makes it a little different. I did always like to challenge my students to think outside the box (although I didn't use that now overused phrase!), and to question things they've always just complied with. I guess I'm a bit of a rebel in some ways.
    I was raised Catholic and started questioning everything when I hit jr. high. My teacher was "shocked" that I would "dare" question God. I told him I wasn't questioning God, I was questioning what so many people believed without question about God. Actually, most of what I questioned were things that weren't in the Bible, but were just believed by Catholic "tradition". I ended up leaving the Catholic church by my late teens and attended another church where I felt led to attend that seemed more in line with what I believed and felt was Bibilically based.

    Anyhow, jumping ahead to today- I went to church this morning and we had a guest preacher who really was great and made me think a lot. He talked about how all "the good church people" say certain things and act certain ways, when more of us need to be REAL and we'd have a much bigger and better impact on others! The average church goers probably all think (at least on occasion) about how they don't understand parts of the Bible andhe talked about how it's okay to feel disillusioned at times, question God, or even get angry at God- as long as it leads to dialogue with God and the working out of it all, and hopefully still trusting in Him, even when we don't believe or understand. What hit home today with me is how he talked about faith. He talked about how real faith isn't saying "yes I believe" at times that we feel pumped up in our faith, just had some good news, etc., How things usually take longer than we think they will (it's easy to be pumped up and have faith for a month or two, but pretty hard after a couple of years and continued bad news, as an example) but to have that faith and say to God- "God, I don't get it- I don't understand why I haven't had a miracle. I believe and feel I know you can do this for me, and yet you haven't- WHY???" It's faith to say even though I don't get it and sometimes don't even know if I believe it, I'm still going to trust in God anyhow- He has my life in his hands and it's his choice whether to heal me or not- he has a plan." Not that he caused any of this to happen to me in the first place, because lousy things just happen as a part of living in this world, but I believe God can cause certain events or situations to have influence on others, etc. Maybe me going through this is part of the way I can influence others for God's purpose. Of course, I would love to have my cancer miraculously taken away (as we all would, of course!). Because I believe that, doesn't neccesarily mean it will or will not happen. I will just keep thanking Him for the life that I do have and pray that I can be an example of how someone behaves when they go through something as tough as having cancer.
    Okay- here I go rambling again- a big fault of mine (but I'm sure this won't be the last time I do it! :)

    I've probably opened another can of worms here with some of the things I've said, but I also think that's kind of fun to do!
    (I know you can relate to that, Phil! :)

    Lisa

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