MEDITATION TIP OF THE WEEK

…IS A  SERIES OF SHORT, EASY TO REMEMBER, AND BASIC TIPS ON HOW TO MEDITATE. PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK, IS IT HELPFUL?

 

How Do You Meditate? Just Go For It!

 

This week’s meditation tip is simple, just go for it! Meaning?

What kind of meditator are you? Have you never meditated? Or, do you have a practice but don’t get as much time doing it as you wish? Perhaps you have a very stable meditation practice, but forget to use your mind well when you’re off of your meditation cushion. Regardless of what your challenges are, there’s an easy solution…just go for it!

 

What Is Meditation ?

 

Just so we’re clear on what we’re talking about when we say, just go for it, here’s a nifty definition of meditation that will give you more than enough to work with. We’ll go into this definition in more depth in an upcoming blog post. For now:

Meditation is a process of gradually coming to know your own mind, coming to rest in a state of non-distraction where you release all sense of hope and fear, cease to alter your mind with thoughts, sensations and emotions, and learn to simply be, mindful, aware and spacious.

 

Meditate When You First Wake Up

 

Have you ever tried to meditate the very first thing that you do when you wake up, even before you go to the bathroom? Recently I was giving a presentation to a group of nurses on using this “first thing in the morning” technique and I realized that I may have missed sharing it with you.

Seriously, meditating when you first wake up is like magic; it can create an atmosphere of awareness and focus that lasts throughout the rest of your day. Try it, when you first wake up, just sit up, lean against your headboard or wall, and meditate. Take five or ten minutes every morning and do this. Make the commitment to do this. Even set your alarm 5-10 minutes earlier. Just go for it!

 

Meditate On the Toilet

 

Say what? Okay, this may sound a bit strange, but we all spend a certain amount of time on the pot each day; maybe not much time, but some time to be sure. Turn these times into mini practice sessions. Instead of using them as strategy or thinking sessions or just spacing out, why not use them as a time to relax your mind, follow the flow of your breath, and just be in the moment. Just go for it!

 

Meditate While You’re Eating

 

You eat, right? What do you do when you’re eating? Talk? Think? Worry? How about just being?! Why not simply be while you’re eating? Just notice the moment and enjoy the fact that you’re having the chance to eat. Did you know that there’s even research to support the theory that mindful eating can help to reduce obesity? Wouldn’t you love to have a way of eating where instead of worrying about what you were eating, you were more focused on how you were eating? Just go for it!

 

Meditate While You’re Falling Asleep

 

How often have you fallen asleep with thoughts of the day, rehashing conversations, or concerned about what tomorrow will bring? I have, and it’s the pits! What I’ve found incredibly helpful, and you may too, is to turn my falling-asleep process into a meditation practice. After all, there’s nothing more to do, so…just go for it!

 

Seventeen Ways to Integrate Meditation Into Your Daily Life

 

In a previous post, 17 Ways to Practice Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, I shared a number of examples of times when you can practice meditation. Read that post to get more ideas, it’ll help you to just go for it. And what else can you do to brighten your meditation practice?

 

Meditate More!

 

I’m going to say this with the surety that I’m right; the more that you meditate, the more that you’ll find that its benefits help you to an inner happiness that isn’t dependent upon outer circumstances. The more that you meditate, the more you’ll find that it works in any circumstance; when you’re angry, or when you’re distracted, or when your meditation is failing, or when life is trying to wake you the f*@k up!

 

So, How Do You Meditate?

 

I usually end the post asking the question of how do you meditate? If you’ve got a practice, please share your ideas, secrets, successes, and challenges with others in the comment section below.  And feel free to use all of the content from this site to support you in your efforts.

If you haven’t started to meditate, begin now.

Many people don’t meditate because they believe that they need to do “something special” in order to meditate, maybe you’re one of them. “Doing something” special isn’t the case. All you need is your breath, and a few minutes of time set aside to begin your practice.

Here are some tools to get you started:

This site has tons of tools for learning how to meditate and be compassionate.

Check out the Related Mindfulness and Meditation Articles below. I also encourage you to look through the HUNDREDS of articles that I’ve written and especially check out my weekly meditation tips and other useful meditation materials provided for your health and well being. And please let me know if you’d like to discuss anything with me, have any questions or need clarification regarding anything that I’ve written about.

Thanks for visiting and have a mindful day.