Each week, I would like to give you a word to think about and what it means to you. I would like you to spend the week asking yourself simple questions that may help you discover things about yourself that you never know or avoided. We have to learn to connect with ourselves in order to connect with others. How can we expect people to get to know who we are if we haven't taken the time to know who we really are. So each Sunday, I will give you exercises along with the words to help you meditate and start your week off right.

This week's word is:

Violence

Think about that word for a few seconds. Violence.

Are you violent? Towards yourself and others? Not only in a verbal or physical sense but are you violent with your thoughts? Are you aware of your violent thoughts?

Do you often find yourself criticizing who you are? What do you say to yourself on a daily basis? Do you love everything about you? When you find yourself looking in the mirror, what goes through your mind? Do you like what you see? Or do you pick yourself apart with everything you need to "fix"? What do you exactly think of yourself? Why do you think those things? When did it all start? You might have to dig deeper into experiences that you don't want to think about but you have to find the source to where it all started. Why don't you love yourself fully as you are when you look at yourself?

What are some things you don't like about people? What do you think or say when you see people? What "annoys" you about them? You know we sometimes, project our "flaws" or insecurities onto people. We see the world as we see ourselves. The things we don't like about people, is the very thing we don't like about ourselves. We pick at people like we pick at ourselves.

Are you violent?

Why do you think the way you do? Why? When did it all start?

I would like you to perform this exercise this week. Start in child pose with the knees together or apart but big toes touching. Take a deep inhalation and exhalation while settling into the pose. Breathe normally and sit in this pose for about 4 minutes. Your challenge in this pose is to not move at all during those pose. That includes not moving your finger tips or toes. Just sitting still and listening to your breath. You want to start training your mind and body on how to remain calm during uncomfortable situations and it all comes down to controlling the breath.

Listen to your thoughts and emotions as they flow through. Allow them to come and don't block any of them. Let them come and see how you feel when they do. Think about the word violence and what it means to you. Start asking yourself those previous questions. Connect with yourself and see what you can find. Understand that meditation is not about controlling your thoughts, its about not letting your thoughts control you. Allow the thoughts to come, but also allow them to go. If a thought or emotion lingers for way too long, RESET.

Reset by taking deep inhalations and exhalations. Do it as many times as you can until the thought is gone.

After your 4 minutes are up, take 3 deep breaths. Do this exercise every day for the next 7 days. You can increase the time if you're up for the challenge. This will help you start sorting out your thoughts and emotions that you've been trying to avoid. When certain thoughts/feelings start to make you feel uncomfortable, start to ask yourself why. Ask yourself why you feel the way you do and dig deep into the source of that discomfort. Don't be afraid to acknowledge how you feel even if it makes you feel uncomfortable. The answer is within you, you may not want to hear it but if its the truth then thats what it is. Understand that there is strength in being vulnerable.

Connect with yourself so you're able to connect with the world.