Making Time to Meditate

You don’t have time to meditate, you tell yourself as you needlessly scroll through Instagram for the 12th time. Let’s face it, as much as we’d like to be improved, fully functioning humans, we don’t always want to put in the time. Something like meditation that requires a lot of focus and brainpower more often than not gets pushed to the back of our minds, especially when you have to worry about work, family, friends, fitness, eating right and every other little worry that the modern world pushes on you.

However, what if we told you that all you needed was a few minutes a day, let’s start with ten, in order to be able to meditate and be mindful? That’s doable, isn’t it? It will take a bit of prioritising and discipline, but once you get started, you can find a holistic approach to all aspects of your day-to-day, leading to a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Why Should You Meditate?

Meditation is not just about relieving stress and refreshing yourself in those ten blissful moments of mind blankness. Practicing mindfulness will help in all aspects of your life, from helping you settle into the moment to helping you cope in a world that overloads and overwhelms you with communication and information. It makes you more productive by increasing your capacity to resist distracting urges, and research even shows that meditation improves your relationships, increases your dependability and raises your performance.

Being able to focus your mind and stay in the present moment can seem like kind of a superpower. Without training your brain to achieve true mindfulness, your mind ends up lost in thought. Not many people realise that they are always thinking without knowing they’re thinking. Thought is incredibly important; we use it to do everything from performing heart surgery to carrying on a conversation. However, most of us spend every moment of our lives in a sort of autopilot thought process that distorts our lives and emotions and engineers our unhappiness. After all, most of what we think as our minds wander is rather unpleasant. Meditation can give you more control, cutting through negative thoughts and self-doubt that arise without our permission.

Tips for Beginner Meditation Practices

If you are trying to make a commitment to mindfulness, here are a few tips to get you started:

Start Early and Prioritise

Try meditating first thing in the morning if possible to start the day with a fresh slate. If mornings aren’t your thing, make sure to prioritise meditation and pick a time every day. Try to do it the same time and same place every day, as this will establish a routine and make the practice familiar to you.

Set Reminders

Either set reminders on your calendar or download a helpful app like RemindMyLife that creates conscious awareness in every moment by setting helpful reminders that will keep you focused.

Be Patient and Non-Judgemental

Many people who just start out tend to be a bit hard on themselves. Remember, there is no such thing as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ meditation. The long term goal is most important, so be patient with yourself and your progress, and learn to forgive yourself.

Assess Yourself After Each Session

Take a mental note of how you feel physically, emotionally and mentally after each session. Once you establish a connection between feeling good and meditation, you’ll have a much easier time finding time to practice.

Find the time to meditate and balance your life with the RemindMyLife app!

Create structure around time and live a healthy lifestyle.