#14 Meditate
Meditation is something that was for a long time shrouded in mystery for me. I shared the common misconception that it was the art of completely emptying your mind of thoughts. The mere concept of being able to clear my mind from the profusion of thoughts and ideas and relentless analysis seemed completely elusive.
I have dipped my toe into the pool of meditation at various yoga retreats and well-being events but I have never really got it. There is no denying the many benefits I like this summary.
However, as 2020 was decreed (by me) as the year to focus on well-being, it seemed the perfect time to make much more of an effort. The definition of meditation that I like is that it is a means of creating calm in the mind, stopping for a moment to become aware of your thoughts. Rather than setting the goal of mastering meditation, my approach was to set aside 15 minutes of each day to focus on peace and calm.
I started daily meditation on 1st January 2020 so am more than 3 months in.
Have I missed the odd day? Yes but I don’t beat myself up over it
Has my ability to concentrate fluctuated depending on my mood? Yes definitely but I never expected mind domination to happen overnight
Has meditation made me more aware of my thoughts? Yes so that can only be a good thing as many of them can then be dismissed as ridiculous
For those of you who haven’t tried meditation or haven’t stuck with it, I thought I would share some observations based on my experience:
Find what works for you. For me, the game-changer was Headspace.com https://www.headspace.com/how-it-works an app that provides a wide range of guided meditation sessions, really cool videos and graphics. There is a free version or the annual subscription for full access to resources is only £49.99 per year
Don’t think that you have to sit still with your eyes shut in complete quiet to meditate – there are many types of meditation including moving meditation https://oneminddharma.com/moving-meditation/. I like the idea of this as ultimately what we are aiming to do is to bring focus and mindfulness into our every day activities whether it is walking or even doing household tasks
There is no right amount of time to spend meditating – let’s face it, we can’t all spare the same amount of time as Tibetan monks. I started with 10 minutes per day and now do 15 minutes which I feel is the right amount of time for me
Try to build meditation into your daily routine so that it doesn’t feel like you are ‘making time’ for it or have the excuse that you are too busy. Play around with the time of day that suit you – I prefer first thing in the morning so that at least I start the day with an intention to remain calm (which still doesn’t last)
Focusing on something can help to avoid your mind wandering can help:
breathing (count 10 slow breaths in and out and repeat)
a mantra (such as a positive affirmation)
a physical object (like a candle flame)
soothing or inspirational music
My main advice is to be patient – I have been tempted to give it up as my negative alter-ego (aka Nora) tells me that it’s too hard and I just can’t do it. There have certainly been noticeable improvements by sticking to it every day so I am going to keep it up! I will report back in a few months on progress.
