How to use a contemplative meditation in the Great Realignment

How I meditated my way into starting a small business

Were you part of the “Great Realignment” that happened soon after the first wave of COVID layoffs? Were you contemplating big questions like, “What do I want to do when I grow up?” or “What kind of life do I want to lead?” Or maybe you were part of the “Great Resignation” that happened when you had the luxury of a short pause during pandemic lockdown and you asked yourself, “How do I find work-life balance?” Or maybe you asked the harder question, “How do I recover from burnout?”

Contemplating those big questions about balancing our work and professional life ended for many of us in the fall of 2020. You likely lost your time to ponder because the world dragged you back into previous levels of pre-pandemic busy-ness. (A pace that was never good for any of us, if you ask me.)

Use a simple contemplation meditation to help you pause in the way the pandemic once did. Tune into your inner voice and/or the voice of a higher power (if that’s your jam) to guide you on the next steps of your journey.

Using this meditation will help you create a life you’re passionate about without burning yourself out.

My contemplative meditation story

I knew that I was on the road to starting a business in the fall of 2018, but what that looked like and how I was going to do that was pretty foggy. So I took another job that I thought would fill the financial gaps while I figured it out. That decision sounded good on paper, but it soon became clear that it made me miserable. I was doing work I was pretty good at, but not passionate about. I had to deal with co-workers who just didn’t click with me. I thought about quitting all the time, and this wasn’t even a full-time job. Ugh!

Enter the contemplation meditation. This is a simple practice I learned only a few months earlier during my meditation teacher training that helped me drop my most pressing questions into a meditative space and allow my heart, mind and soul to speak and guide me.

What happened when I did the contemplation meditation

I don’t mean to boast, but I was doing my own “Great Realignment” ahead of the curve. 🤣

I was struggling in the fall of 2018 with where and how I should live my calling, my purpose, my dharma. After many different roles working in the church (Psst … I’m an ordained clergy person. Please keep reading anyway. 😉) I did not feel like my gifts were valued in the church any more. Or the gifts that people in the church did want to use — communication and administration — were not the ones I felt most passionate about using. I felt perpetually like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.

So, I formed a question about, “What are my next steps?” and dropped the question into my mind, my heart and finally — as the yogis say — into the cave of my heart (or the soul as I think about it) during a 15- to 20-minute contemplation meditation each day for about six weeks. 

At first there was a lot of what seemed like annoying static coming up in my brain. I constantly revisited conflicts with my work team during the meditation. Random ideas, images and words also emerged, as they always do. One seemingly random word bubbled up more than others: healer.

During the contemplation meditation, I began to form questions around that word, healer. I asked, “How does that relate to my next steps?” It seemed to have something important to teach me, but it was SO far away from how I saw myself. I was far more comfortable with other ways of describing myself: Challenger. Administrator. Facilitator. Leader. Pastor. Yogi. Those were all words I was comfortable using to describe myself. But, Healer?

Time spent in the contemplation meditation helped me shift identity

I asked in contemplation meditation what healer meant for me, but nothing new emerged immediately. Just the word and a lot of the normal chatter in my brain.

So, I questioned: Should I leave the church entirely and teach yoga? Should I work to translate my skills acquired in the church world for secular settings? Or something else I hadn’t thought about yet?

I have spent my professional ministry life challenging systems. I am an 8 on the Enneagram — the Challenger — for those who know that personality typing system. Eights are high-energy world beaters. I am fantastic at taking broken organizations, and changing and repairing them, even when many people around me are resisting the change. Though I was very good at being the change agent in an ailing organization, the work often left me exhausted and drained. Too often, when I left a particular job, the system rolled back to old habits, to what it had always done. Meanwhile, as I would move forward to a new job or project, a part of me often felt like I had failed to make the changes I thought would be good and healthy for that organization.

Healer, huh? Seems more like a failure.

After several days of bouncing between my busy mind and this deeper mediation, something began to emerge. I began to wonder — What if the reason the systems rolled back was that changing administrative systems or organizational cultures wasn’t the right work of change? Maybe the dysfunctional system had to change from the inside out. Did the people in that group have to heal in order to move forward into a new future?

After I spent 18 months immersed in yoga teaching and practice during my 300-hour advanced yoga teacher training, I had observed in myself and others that yoga, meditation and Reiki changed us, not out of sheer willpower, but by allowing the practices to work on us, to heal us.

I began to dream — what if I brought the yoga, breath and meditation practices that healed me over the years together with my skills to train, coach and lead change in organizations? Could I bring that kind of healing to others who were also trying to make change in their organizations?

Time spent in the contemplation meditation helped me shift identity

I asked in contemplation meditation what healer meant for me, but nothing new emerged immediately. Just the word and a lot of the normal chatter in my brain.

So, I questioned: Should I leave the church entirely and teach yoga? Should I work to translate my skills acquired in the church world for secular settings? Or something else I hadn’t thought about yet?

I have spent my professional ministry life challenging systems. I am an 8 on the Enneagram — the Challenger — for those who know that personality typing system. Eights are high-energy world beaters. I am fantastic at taking broken organizations, and changing and repairing them, even when many people around me are resisting the change. Though I was very good at being the change agent in an ailing organization, the work often left me exhausted and drained. Too often, when I left a particular job, the system rolled back to old habits, to what it had always done. Meanwhile, as I would move forward to a new job or project, a part of me often felt like I had failed to make the changes I thought would be good and healthy for that organization.

Healer, huh? Seems more like a failure.

After several days of bouncing between my busy mind and this deeper mediation, something began to emerge. I began to wonder — What if the reason the systems rolled back was that changing administrative systems or organizational cultures wasn’t the right work of change? Maybe the dysfunctional system had to change from the inside out. Did the people in that group have to heal in order to move forward into a new future?

How to do the contemplation meditation

If you are having your own “Great Realignment” moment with questions where you are headed or need help making a tough decision. I really recommend you try this simple meditation.

Here’s what you do:

1. Create a short question about your next steps. You might journal for a little while to hone the question.  Make it specific enough to address your current situation without limiting it too much. Use these journaling prompts if helpful:
   • • What are my next steps about …
     • What am I learning and unlearning right now?
     • What am I passionate about?
     • What worries me most right now?
     • What are the biggest questions I am facing right now?
2. Make a comfortable meditation seat, or lay down. I find it helpful to have a journal nearby in case something comes up that I want to write or draw so I don’t forget it.
3. Set a timer for 5 to 20 minutes (or longer if that’s comfortable for you.) Add three bell sounds in between the starting and stopping bells to remind you when to move onto the next part of the practice. (I use the Insight Timer app because you can make customized timers like this in their free version. Or you can keep resetting a kitchen timer or the standard timer on your phone for each section.)
4. Simply notice your breathing for 1-5 minutes.
5. Bring your contemplation meditation to mind.
6. Drop that question into your mind. It might help to imagine it dropping into the space between your eyebrows (This third-eye point is thought to be the seat of wisdom.) Continue breathing and notice what emerges for 1-5 minutes. Write any notes in your journal if something compelling comes up.
7. Drop the question into your heart. It might help to imagine dropping it into the center of your chest. (The heart center is thought to be the center of your caring and compassion.) Continue breathing and notice what emerges for 1-5 minutes. Write any notes in your journal if something compelling comes up.
8. Drop that question into the cave of the heart or your soul (or whatever word works best for you.) It might help to imagine dropping it into your navel center. (The navel center is thought to be the seat of your identity.) Continue breathing and notice what emerges for 1-5 minutes. Write any notes in your journal if something compelling comes up.
9. Conclude your meditation, writing or drawing anything that is interesting to you.
   
   You can repeat this contemplation meditation for a few days or weeks until you begin to get some clarity about how to move forward. Be patient with yourself and the process. Notice without judgment what’s coming up, even if it seems like static, a distraction or a seemingly random thought. Over time, themes will likely emerge. Having the journal nearby to jot down thoughts or images will help you see them emerge over time.

Do you have more questions about meditation or your ‘Great Realignment’?

You can join my Defy the Trend online community for free, which will give you:

• A supportive and safe online community where you can ask hard questions and have fun, too!
• An online restorative yoga/meditation class pass
• A sampler pack of basic guided meditations that are great for beginners starting a home practice

Feel free to post your comments and questions here. I love to hear back from you. Or you can email me.  I’ll respond ASAP!

This article was originally published in July 2019 and was updated in January 2023.