Meditation?? Nah, not got the time for all that!!
Facts of life: we’re all busy!
So you’ve heard all about the potential physical and mental health benefits of Meditation. It is, after all, always being featured in the latest Health & Wellness magazines, E-zines, Blogs, Pods, Celebrity “secrets of my success” interviews, etc etc etc.
BUT .. you’re busy! Life is hectic! It’s full of demands on your time that you simply cannot escape from and you’re pretty full on already without trying to cram something else in. Sound like you? We’re all the same in that respect. Life can be pretty full on and we all have stuff to do, and roles to fulfil: carer, worker, brother, sister, mother, father, lover, worker, student, house-keeper, shopper, run-a-round, rescuer … I bet you could probably add a few more roles to that list of your own.
And if you know you’re a bit of a stress-head, or you suffer with anxiety, overwhelm, overthink, or stress-related symptoms of illness, you will most probably already SUSPECT that Meditation would probably be a good thing for you to get into … BUT .. you’re busy!!! You’re just never going to fit it into your already busy, hectic day!
Well, let’s see if we can help you find a way, because as the famous quote by Henry Ford/Buddha/Yoda/OtherGuru goes ….
“If you want to get something different from what you’ve always got,
you’ve got to do something different from what you’ve always done”
So, how long do you think you need in order to Meditate? 1 or 2 hours of sitting cross-legged on a cushion on the floor with an empty mind, humming “Ommmmmm” to yourself?
Well, that IS an option for you. And that IS a practice for many thousands of people who regularly meditate.
Let's remember, there are many many MANY different ways to DO Meditation.
What all this means is that simply by INTENDING to Meditate, and using the simplest technique, we can shift ourselves PDQ from our busy, stressy, doing, fretting, over-thinking, over-worrying state, and within a minute or so, drop into what I call a more “meditative state of being”. i.e. being calm, focused, yet relaxed. Yep .. in just a minute or so.
How cool is that? And -more importantly – how many minutes are there in a whole day?
Well, 24 hours in a day. Let’s delete 8 hours of those for a good night’s sleep (Meditation can help you with that too, by the way, if you need it!) which still leaves 16 hours with 60 minutes in every hour. Let’s do the math. 8 hours x 60 mins = a whopping 960 minutes. Could you promise yourself just 1, 2, or 3 mins of that, every day, to introduce some regular Meditation into your life. Just 1, 2 or 3 mins for YOU; investing in YOUR physical and mental health? You – you beautiful soul - deserve that at the very least, and I know you can do that, with just a bit of determination. So why not give it a go?
HOW, exactly, can you fit it into a busy day?
Well, take a look at your day. It might seem absolutely rammed full of all that “stuff” you have to do. Think about all the routines, or little habits, that you already have in place in your day:
Morning face-wash
Morning cuppa
Breakfast
Morning dog-walk/school run
Mid morning coffee break
Lunch break.
How about the afternoon?
Tea-time
Time to exercise
Evening family time
Pre-bed relax time
Bed-time.
Wow, just look at all those little habits and routines you already have in place .. and ask yourself, where can I add (or include) 1, 2 or 3 mins to just STOP and BREATHE? And if you’ve got more time, like a whopping whole 5 or 10 mins YOU time, try it then too?
Yes, literally, just STOP, and BREATHE. You don't have to change anything. Just NOTICE your breath. Notice how you breathe. Notice how your body moves in response to that movement of air in and then out of your body.
This is a very mindful practice. And it’s a great place to start, really it is!
"Mighty oaks from little acorns grow"
Do you think you could you do it for the next 7 days? Why not give it a whirl. You could even set a timer on your mobile phone to remind you to do it at a specific time of day.
Let me know how you get on with this! I’d love to know!
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