Will I be accepted?

Welcome. We’ll take you just the way you are. I look forward to your contributions and sharing with you.

Thanks Dark Jedi. I’m feeling the love here. I plan to stick around

Welcome, sanders! It’s great to have you here.

I can really relate to your story. I’ve struggled with anxiety/depression since I was a kid. It definitely hit a peak on my mission. I still deal with it on occasion. And like you, I have found the best way to combat it is through meditation and mindfulness. There is no better feeling than when you’re fully focused on the present moment and just viewing the world as it is. No worries about tomorrow, no regrets about yesterday, just observing what is.

Though I feel wonderful, I’m still trying to navigate the waters between my new found spirituality and my place in the church. I find myself struggling to relate to the normal members of the church and seeing where I fit in. Is there room for people like me in the church? I have been a member my whole life, have had positive experiences in the church, but I’m still finding it difficult to talk to my friends and church members about my new spiritual insights and experiences. I’ve tried talking to a few friends and members of my ward about some of these things, and so far it’s been met with resistance or indifference.

There absolutely is room for people like you in the church! I hope so, if not then I’ll be getting booted too Everyone has a unique understanding and belief about spirituality. You may find some resistance or even complete disagreement when talking with some people, particularly those with a very orthodox view of the church, but you will also find some people that completely relate to you (myself being one of them). The further along I get in my unique spiritual path, the more I am valuing the differences of opinion. If everyone agreed with my beliefs, I wouldn’t have much to learn from them. On the other hand, if I agreed with everyone else’s beliefs, I wouldn’t have much to share with them.

To sum it up… Embrace your views. Share what has made you happy. If you come across people that disagree with you, see what you can learn from that difference of opinion.

Great post! Thanks for joining the group.

Your post gave me chills. Thank you so much. It feels great to hear from people that feel the way I do, and am so glad to meet you.

I am very interested in what you are saying about Mormon meditation, and hope you will explicate it further. I would like to see something done further on those lines.

I’m going to chime in with something different. Becoming active has HELPED me deal with anxiety – I would count the following in my favor: getting off alcohol + coffee has reduced my anxiety, prayer too, meeting a bunch of people who snipe at each other less than the folk outside the church, getting various help off the church in half a dozen ways.

I am very interested in what you are saying about Mormon meditation, and hope you will explicate it further. I would like to see something done further on those lines.

I’m not a meditation expert or guru. It’s completely changed my life though. As I was searching for deeper spiritual knowledge and meditation techniques, I came across a couple of really amazing articles by Phil McLemore. He’s a Mormon yogi who does meditation seminars in Utah. One of his articles, Yoga of Christ really connected with me. Here’s a link to the article https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/146-30-45.pdf.

Over the course of the year, I’ve gotten to know Phil and he’s really helped me in my spiritual awakening and meditation practice. As I mentioned in my OP, this knowledge has made a huge impact on my life. It literally saved my family and helped me over come some deep issues with anxiety. Since my experience with Phil has been so transformational, I desperately wanted to get his message out to the world and help others who were in my same situation. He’s retired, only does local seminars, but I talked him into doing some online meditation seminars. We are going to be holding our first one on March 27 and you’re welcome to attend. There’s no cost. The link is in my sig if you or anyone else is interested.

Thanks again for everyone who has welcomed me into forum. I’ve bounced around a few other ones, but feel really comfortable here.

You are definitely welcome here. There are a number of other people here who have posted about anxiety and other related issues. I have some minor anxiety myself. It doesn’t usually get in the way of my life, but it’s been exacerbated since I have found myself in the borderlands of Mormonism. Those phone calls to cryptic meetings really get to me. I have to work really hard not to freak out.

I’ve been really interested in meditation but haven’t taken much time to look into it. I have issues with prayer and belief in God himself. Do you think that Phil McLemore’s meditation seminar would be helpful for someone who isn’t sure that God even exists? I am interested in meditation as a form of self-awareness and maybe prayer, but I have such a deep skeptical streak I’m not sure how it would work out if the focus is on spiritual awakenings—since my experience doesn’t give me any real connection to what a spiritual awakening might be like.

Hi Daeruin,

Thanks for your question. I think his seminar would be perfect for someone like you. You can definitely use meditation for self awareness and prayer. In this first event he actually talks about the difference between praying to God (traditional Mormon praying) and praying IN God. I think you will really enjoy it.

Meditation doesn’t have to be about spiritual awakening, though personally I think it’s the highest benefit of meditating. Stilling the mind is great for relieving stress and overall health improvement. I hope you’ll join us. Phil’s knowledge is incredible and I think anyone who is remotely interested in meditation will get something good out of this first live event.

Welcome to the group, Sanders! This group has helped me so much.

Despite a lot of talk about the love that the Lord has for us, there can be a lot of obsession with the appearance of perfection. It has ruined more than one generation of my family here in Northern Utah. Christ’s gospel is perfect (charity, hope, patience, etc.), and although I can no longer say that “I know” this or “I know” that, I have a lot of hope that through the mercy of a loving Heavenly Father, my heart can be understood and my imperfect efforts to be a half-decent human being will be enough.