“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~Aristotle
Meditation is so much more than being ‘zenned out.’ It’s about the creation of a morning (and maybe even an evening) ritual that brings you into clear focus and prepares you for the day. It’s about creating a center of excellence that starts with you. It’s about developing a habit that can sustain you through all the ups and downs of life. As a matter of fact, the more you meditate, the more the ups and downs of life become smooth sailing on the river of life. Meditation connects you directly to the universal flow.
How does meditating connect to the phrase, “Getting your game face on?”
Intentions and Success
“Getting your game face on” means to get serious, to concentrate, and to prepare yourself, all with the intention to succeed. The two key words here are intention and succeed. In order to succeed you need to set your intention. You need to focus. And I mean laser focus in on…you. Because what you focus on grows. The ‘succeed’ part is up to you. It’s up to you to decide what that means for you. You’re the only one who can answer that question. We all have that question built into our DNA code and we all get to answer it in our own unique way.
The answering of that question drives forth your purpose, brings the unlimited potential to the surface and takes the questioning out of the equation. You just know. And the only way I know that you can decide what it means to you is to really get to know yourself. To get to know yourself you have to go inward. You have to check yourself out. You have to align the inner you with the outer you. You have to get real with yourself. You have to get through the conflicts of what you want people to see, how you think people want you to act, and how you actually feel about things.
Who Are You?
You have to ‘come out.’ This means bringing out your authenticity. There’s no other way. The only way to ‘come out’ is to go inward and check things out. Discard what doesn’t serve you. Scratch through the surface and see what is, not what you want it to be. You have to flip it. The best way I know to get to the core of you is to meditate. There’s a reason why the ancient inscription above the Oracle of Delphi is “Know Thyself.” Meditating gets you there.
For so many years all I heard was, meditate, meditate, meditate. I’d be sitting in my living room and see my mom meditating and doing her nightly yoga and I wondered, “Why is she doing this?” When Deepak Chopra opened his center down the street from me in San Diego, I took a couple of classes and while I felt relaxed and energized at the same time, the meditation part didn’t stick.
Later, Oprah and Deepak came out with their 21-day meditation challenge and I committed to doing it every day and it stuck. I’ve been meditating every morning and evening ever since (well almost ever since, barring a few snafus.)
Your Connection with The Universe
I know the secret. It’s the most important thing that I can do every day and every evening. The secret is…drum roll please…connecting to the deepest most sacred part of me (my subconscious) as it connects with the deepest most sacred part of the universe (the super consciousness). It’s all within us. We are already divine.
Meditation is the sacred time of diving into the vast consciousness of all that is, ever was and will be. If you go inward and let the silence wash over you, something magical happens. Deepak explains in his recent January 2015 newsletter that you become present, “…You are not setting out to engage the mind’s contents but to experience consciousness itself. In the spiritual traditions from which meditation emerged, it was noticed that the mind naturally becomes quiet when you first wake up in the morning or go to sleep at night. At these times of natural quiet, you feel present and in the moment, yet there’s nothing particular on your mind. This moment of simple awareness may last only a few seconds. The ancient sages and seers of India took this seemingly blank space and explored it. What they discovered was that the apparent emptiness of a quiet mind wasn’t empty at all. It was the source of all possibilities. With deeper exploration, they found a field of creative potential that transcended daily life.” (Chopra.com, January 2015.)
Meditation connects you to who you are, connects you to your higher self, and connects you to your inner world, and let me tell you, it goes to some wild and deep places, down rabbit holes, into mazes, and deep under the currents of the water.
I know exactly when I’m there because the magical sensation of all-ness and nothing-ness presents itself very clearly. My entire body tingles and goes from being all parts, a nose, an arm, and a toe, to being all living particles of light. You may at this point be saying to yourself, this is typical woo woo talk and it may be.
Oprah, Clint, Martin, and More
But then again, there are lots of others like me who are not woo woo. Russell Simmons, Arianna Huffington, Oprah, Katy Perry, Russell Brand, Paul McCartney, Jennifer Aniston, Ellen DeGeneres, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, George Stephanopoulos, Eva Mendes, Gabrielle Bernstein, Rupert Murdoch, David Lynch, Bill Ford, Jack Kornfield, and Rick Rubin, just to name a few. According to David Lynch, “…most of us go through lives wearing a “Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit of Negativity.” Log enough meditation and that suit will ‘dissolve.’” To read more see, “Ohm Sweet Home,” Town & Country, September 2014 issue.
So why meditate? That’s really a question for you to answer from the depths of your soul. As for me, I meditate to be completely open, positively charged, anchored to the earth mother, and wanting for nothing and open to everything that my higher self wishes to show me through my subconscious.
“Meditation is nothing but withdrawing all the barriers; thoughts, emotions, sentiments, everything that builds a wall between you and existence. The moment they drop, you suddenly find yourself in tune with the whole; not only in tune, you really find you are the whole.” –Osho
Juliette lives a real life filled with joy, magic, and success—a life she co-created with the Universe. Her method is unique, powerful, and rooted firmly in the tradition of her Huguenot and African forbearers— healers and wise women, blacksmiths and shamans, their DNA wired tightly with hers. Juliette brings messages from those who have passed from this life—guides, saints, and angels —to uncover blocks. By infusing Eastern philosophies, Shamanic essences and Western metaphysics, she guides her clients through the story of their heart, essence, and very soul. She brings her truth, her vulnerability, her humor, and her love of life to her clients so that they have the beacon of light to follow their truth and become everything they’ve always known they could be – fully alive.
Juliette speaks on: Self-empowerment and self-sustainability by truly loving yourself, meditation and intuition as a spiritual business practice, the vibrational impact of food and thoughts on the body, mind, & soul. In 2010, Juliette was invited to speak on how local foods and local economies can lift communities out of poverty at the 2010 Women’s Summit keynoted by First Lady Michelle Obama. She founded the Soul of Happiness, a monthly salon that explores personal happiness and spirituality, and the QuantuMagic™ IONS Salon in Connecticut. Her upcoming book, The Four Tenets of Love: Open, Activate & Inspire Your LifesPath™ is due to be released this spring.