You ever make a goal and it just stays in your mind for a while before you actually do it? Then you do it once but it stays in your mind again for another month or so? I have. Especially with exercising. One day I will be full of enthusiasm and go hard on the working out paint! The next day I will be so sore that of course, I have to rest now. The next day, something will get in the way, so on and so forth. All of a sudden the whole week has passed and I realized I only worked out once. This happens with any goal, not excluding meditation. We wake up to our alarm in the morning, tell ourselves “five more minutes” or “I can meditate laying down” next thing you know, you wake up and you have even less time than you wanted to get ready for work. Luckily, tomorrow always holds a second chance, right? Well really, you still have the rest of the day to get your meditation and work out in. So what is in the way?
Is it because we would rather do it in the morning but we missed our goal to do so? Okay, that’s fair enough. What if the same thing happens tomorrow? Then you will keep pushing it to the next day and the next day and the next day because we want our routine to be perfect. I am here to tell you that it does not have to be. When you are starting a new habit or practice (especially with meditation) I encourage you to fit it in at any time of the day that you can. This way you can still be practicing meditation anyway. Yes, meditation is experienced differently at different times of the day and it is ideal to get it done in the morning. Not only because it is beneficial to start the day off with a clear mind, but just to get it out of the way and check it off the list of things to do today. However, it is better to do it at any time than to not do it at all. you want to ease your dedicated meditation practice into your life, not force it.
So it looks like perfectionism is what is holding us back from meditating. I want to meditate at EXACTLY 6:30 am EVERYDAY for 30 minutes on the DOT. When you finally find yourself on your cushion, wrapped in your blanket, sitting in quiet and watching yourself completely, you will learn real fast just how imperfect every thing is. It would be so nice and perfect to shut those loud annoying thoughts up while we try to focus on the breath. It would be just so perfect if we could gaze only at the candle flame and focus only there without wavering once. That lots and lots of time and practice to get that good at focus and in meditation practices, that’s usually not exactly what we want to get out of it any way. We want to feel better. More calm, more present, better able to handle things. Most of all, our emotions.
Heck, that is the main thing that holds us back from beginning and continuing our practice. Emotions that turn into thoughts, that turn into emotions, that turn into thoughts and that cycle that goes on and on.. until one day. We have this burning desire to achieve it. To let it become a part of us. To make it happen. That is the beauty of meditation. You sit there, just sit there and realize how hard it is to just sit there! We can lounge on the couch all day but God forbid we sit straight up, cross legged, eyes closed, be still and observe. It’s pretty hilarious if you can look at it that way. So then, our brain tells us “sitting there is so easy, you don’t actually have to do it. You’ll accomplish more if you do tasks or do something hard.” Or the voice that comes in the morning “you can do it later.” Later comes and all the other tasks you put off have now become more important but now you’re stressed while you’re trying to get them done on a crunch. I hate to remind you in the moment but.. if you had meditated in the morning.. the work and tasks would feel a lot less stressful. Maybe that is when the moment comes that you make that change.
Are you seeing what it all comes down to that holds you back from meditating? You. It’s you my friend. That’s okay. That’s the beauty of meditation. At first it is so hard because you are fighting hard against yourself and the resistance you created. (If you are a human, you struggle with resistance.) Then after you get through consistent effort of getting into your meditative spot every day, one day, you will have a pleasant moment during one of your meditation practices. That pleasant moment will be what makes you look forward to sitting on that cushion. Next thing you know, you will look back and realize, whoa, I’ve been meditating every day for a year and a half now?…. nice.
Please enjoy this 20 minute meditation for the next time you make the good decision to meditate instead of scroll! I’m rooting for you and your peace!