MEDITATION TIP OF THE WEEK
MEDITATION TIP OF THE WEEK IS A WEEKLY SERIES OF EASY TO REMEMBER, SHORT AND BASIC TIPS ON MEDITATION. PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK, IS IT HELPFUL?
Meditate Whenever You Think About Meditation
Do you ever find yourself thinking about meditating, or thinking about the fact that you haven’t been meditating? Do you ever wish that you’d remembered to meditate?
Well then, just meditate! Think about it for a minute, since you’ve taken the time to occupy your mind with the thought of meditation, why not apply that reminder to the moment – right then – to meditate?
Okay, so what would it look like to do that? What if you’re…driving the car? Or making dinner? Or reading a book? How do you meditate while engaging in an activity?
First off, let’s be clear; you don’t have to mediate for an extended period of time to practice meditation. While we’ve discussed the need to set aside a time for formal meditation practice, what we’re talking about here is taking any moment that your mind thinks about meditation as an invitation to meditate…in that moment!
So, if you’re driving the car, or making dinner, or even reading a book, simply turn your mind towards whatever you’re doing and practice non-distraction. Simply turning one’s mind towards whatever one is doing, and maintaining focus, attention and spaciousness on whatever one is doing is in a way, genuine meditation.
By focus, we mean mindfully attending to what one is doing, without letting the mind drift into distraction.
By attention, we mean that one realizes when one is distracted and – gently – brings one’s focus back to whatever one is doing.
By spaciousness, we mean that one doesn’t try to narrow one’s focus onto what one is doing, but keeps one’s mind open to the present without getting distracted.
Try this many times a day, short, frequent periods of “meditation.” By doing this, you may find that your formal practice feels less distracted, and that your feeling of “being present” in your day increases.
Give it a try. Let me know whether it works. Share your experiences here with other readers through the comment section at the bottom.
Enjoy!
How To Meditate
Maybe you’ve already got a meditation practice. If that’s the case, great! Keep it up. 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:
- Meditation audio for using your breath as the anchor of your attention during meditation.
- Ebook and two chapters from the book, Minding the Bedside: Nursing from the Heart of the Awakened Mind, on how to meditate.
- And of course, buy the book, Minding the Bedside: Nursing from the Heart of the Awakened Mind. Even though it’s written for nurses, it can be read by anyone. I’ve had feedback from many people who aren’t nurses that it changed how they viewed and worked in the world. You can even buy it in a Kindle version!
This site has tons of tools for learning how to meditate and be compassionate.
I 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.
i know that i am a little biased, but i like the simplicity of this tip. it just makes sense to me to integrate meditation into our daily lives.
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