Starting a meditation habit can seem incredibly daunting. There are so many different questions you might ask yourself. Instead of worrying about the tiny details, worry about building a sustaining habit. Allowing yourself to flow with meditation will begin to open up the doors to the life-changing benefits meditation has to offer.
Meditate when the time seems right. Forcing a meditation habit will only frustrate you and you may not see the benefits doing so. Let the journey guide you along the way instead of trying to guide it yourself. Meditation only works when your heart is in it.
Building a Meditation Habit
Before you start worrying yourself about minutia, begin your journey into meditation by building a habit.
I have not found any self-help course/guide/video that has even come close to the benefits that a meditation habit can offer.
Start by meditating whenever you feel the urge to do so. Meditation is a graceful act so do not try to pigeon hole a session in just because you feel the need to do so.
This allows your habit to begin being built by allowing yourself to enjoy the process rather than see it as a chore.
As you mature in your journey you will find that meditation will become your best friend. This is the goal, to harmoniously enjoy meditation as an invitation to enjoy the present moment for what it has to offer.
Too often meditation is practiced in a way that doesn’t allow the benefits to come forth as the mind doesn’t have a chance to adjust to being still.
You will learn slowly but surely until your meditation habit is ingrained into your daily routine.
As I’ve grown older, I found myself meditating less in the form of practice. Meditation should be brought into your everyday life – meditation is able to be done in every waking moment.
This is what makes meditation so incredibly powerful. Meditation can be done walking down the street, in line at the grocery store, and on the way to your office.
The power in meditation lies in this concept.
Best Time to Meditate
You should only meditate if you are 100 percent ready to do so.
If you aren’t feeling the need in the morning but you get the urge at night, feel free to do as you may. There is no reason to make a schedule around meditation, this can end up doing more harm than good.
While I do agree a daily meditation practice can be beneficial, I think it’s better to let the person who is new to meditation let their own intuition guide them.
The only habits being built are habits that you are fully in line with.
How many times do you hear “I’m going to start going to the gym every day!” only for them to start out strong but then slowly stop going as they were forcing themselves instead of enjoying the process?
Meditation is such a powerful tool that you need to be present in order to let the benefits show themselves to you.
There is no “best time” to meditate. I’ve had amazing sessions early in the morning and well into the evening. Presence does not understand time, it is timeless.
Let your powerful inner voice guide you along this journey you have embarked.
Meditation increases your ability to flow with life. Practicing flow from the start will give you a leg up on your journey into self-understanding.
It’s better to have one good meditation session a week than seven bad ones.
Meditating While You Live
Think outside the box.
Meditation is not meant to be done just sitting down in a calm setting. Meditation is meant to be done wherever you are in life.
If you are at the grocery store in line, waiting for a friend at the bus stop, or driving to work, all of these moments are perfect times to begin meditating.
This may be a bit of a more advanced concept but understanding this from the beginning is vital so you don’t miss out on your journey.
Meditation doesn’t require you to have closed eye session. Simply focus on your breathing, that is all that is required.
As you “level up”, you will catch yourself utilizing those hours of meditation in every waking moment.
While I do not like putting “goal” and “meditation” in the same sentence, this should be your ultimate goal in meditation.
Instead of constantly having a cluttered mind and being bogged down, you will be able to be in the present moment and enjoy life like never before.
There is something special in these moments of waking meditation. It’s the ability to just enjoy life as it is presented without any judgment. It allows you to realize there is more to life than you may have ever thought.
If you can feel amazing while stuck in line at a bank, imagine how well you will begin to perform in crucial moments.
As the mind quiets your brain has laser like focus. You won’t catch yourself in a thought loop for hours at a time.
You will begin to experience life as it is, in the present moment and all it has to offer.
It’s hard to stop once you realize what kind of magic is hidden beneath the surface.
Coming Full Circle
As you go from a beginner into mastery, you may find that you stop meditating conventionally as much as you once did.
Practicing wakeful meditation in itself is an art form. Enlightened masters have mastered this skill, meditation is not necessary after a certain point.
This may sound a bit unconventional and I understand that. I would compare it to riding a bicycle with training wheels.
As you begin riding a bank you don’t have any awareness of balance and will fall off easily. The training wheels accustom you to sitting in a certain position until you take them off and suddenly you know how to ride a bike!
Meditation is the same. Instead of having to worry about when/if you can meditate, meditation will be occurring in every waking moment.
The true masters have realized this. It doesn’t mean that they don’t meditate, they still meditate conventionally often. It’s just that it isn’t required like it is for a beginner.
A beginner cannot even meditate for a few minutes at a time, to tell them to start doing wakeful meditation won’t make sense to them. That’s why it’s important to begin your journey with an understanding of what meditation is like when you begin to master it.
The journey comes full circle. You are right back where you started, except this time you have realized how easy it is to rest in the present moment.
Meditation is the only self-help you will ever need in your life. Forget the courses and gurus trying to sell you cheap tricks, meditation is free. That’s the best part, you don’t even need to pay.
I’ve been gifted with the immense amount of clarity meditation gives and I would like to offer you the chance to start your own journey into self-fulfillment.
Conclusion
Meditate whenever you feel the need to. When you stop forcing yourself to meditate, it begins to be a beautiful experience instead of a chore that checked off your to-do list.
As you begin to become more advanced, bring meditation more into your waking life. Simply breathe and allow all the lessons you’ve learned over your journey to begin showing you their powers. Your focus and clarity will be magnified exponentially.
Build your habit slowly and understand that mastery takes time. Meditation brings results as no other self-help course can. Take the journey with ease and let meditation show you the way.
