On a walk one day my chest began to tighten up. I fell onto one knee. And then the other knee. And then I fell onto one hand. And then the other hand.

I crawled over to a grassy area at the edge of the sidewalk under a tree. I waved my hand for anyone to help and no one came to my rescue. People looked from their car windows as they drove by. I took my phone out of my pocket and called my wife. She and my two daughters jumped in the car and came rushing over. Then with all the energy I could muster I dialed 911.

In a few short minutes my wife and two daughters arrived. I saw the unforgettable dread in my daughter’s eyes. Their eyes were like saucers as they looked upon their husband and father lying on the ground on a public street seemingly lifeless. I could read one of my daughters eyes who said, “Is daddy going to die?”

Soon after my daughters and wife arrived an ambulance showed up. The two kind firefighter paramedics, young guys In the early to mid-30s, hopped out of the truck, pulled me to my feet, and walked me into the truck. Within minutes they checked my vitals, ran an EKG, and finished their evaluation by telling me I likely had an anxiety attack. They recommended that I go to see my doctor if necessary but at the moment it was not necessary to rush me to the hospital.

That experience with anxiety changed my life because I knew I needed to do something to help to maintain stability of mind and to strengthen my heart.

Soon after I began a practice of meditation and this is one of the meditations I developed.

Will you meditate with me?

In this meditation practice we will sit with the mantra “growth.” As we sit with the mantra growth we are putting our attention on certain areas of the body and speaking growth to it. As emotions, feelings, and thoughts arise in our awareness we will place our awareness upon those sensations and speak growth to it.

The only doing which we can consider ourselves doing is placing our attention on sensations, feelings, thoughts, and emotions in our body, mind, and heart and speaking growth to it. It is my assumption as we speak growth to those areas, those areas will respond to the words we say to it and begin to contract as necessary and expand as necessary. Growth will emerge from this practice without effort.

If you try this meditation let me know how it goes.

Grow thyself to know they self.

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