Building a habit of meditating daily often starts with a burst of enthusiasm, and then a few days in you realize that the habits of your normal life have taken over and you just forgot to sit.
So you’re probably going to need some reminders to help establish the awareness, I meditate every day. The most helpful thing is having a regular time to meditate. Then it’s just “time to meditate” and you do it.
That doesn’t work for everyone, though. So you might want to set up a reminder in your computer or smartphone calendar to prompt you to meditate every day, or place notes and reminders around the house or in your car or office.
Having a place set up to meditate helps, too, especially if it’s a place you’ll see when you first get up.
If you’re participating in our Google+ Wildmind community, then you’ll also get emails whenever someone posts there, which can act as a reminder to practice.
So it takes a little effort to establish this new habit. And you may find there are some days you just forget, but you can congratulate yourself for having identified a weakness in your reminder system. Just pick yourself back up and see what you can do to create better internal and external reminders of your intention to sit daily.
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Loving these reminders and support – Thank you!
4/100. An early result from British britain, there!
Metta today. I’m trying out this idea of alternating mindfulness and metta practice day by day. Not something I’ve done before – usually rather random, doing metta just when I felt some particular need to.
Found the ‘person I find difficult’ stage particularly troublesome today. Clearly need to do some more forgiveness work there. I can rationalise all the excellent reasons why I should dislike and despise the person, but I know all I’m doing is harming myself with all these negative feelings. Need to forgive and let go as soon as realistically possible. 2013 is my year of Letting Go.
4/100 for 20 min.
Getting up a little earlier so I can get some in distracted quiet time before our 2 year old wakes up isn’t as hard as I thought it would be, he sleeps in like his mom! Initial sitting is the easy part, staying focused and letting thoughts rise and fall away is the hard part. I try to focus on the breath and count them but often I will lose count because the mind wanders while inhaling or exhaling.
This challenge is just what I needed to make meditation and Buddhism part of my life instead of just something I read and think about a lot. Thanks!
I stayed in bed over-long this morning, and was going to skip meditation, until I remember the challenge! So down on the cushion I sat. Thanks for the daily reminders and encouragement.
I’m still “with the program” on Day 4 and grateful for the structure this challenge provides. Friendly wishes to all!
4/100
10-min breathing maditation. This time I sat on a chair, not cross-legged as I usually do. This posture was more comfortable. I think that from now on I’ll use both these postures with a preference for the chair ^^
And again I feel that 10 minutes is not enough for me. I think that’s the time I need to start really getting involved in my meditative experience, so 15 minutes is more beneficial.
Thanks a lot for giving us this opportunity to practice meditation on a daily basis, that’s great! :)
https://journeyviamediation.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/day-4-of-100-2013-and-more/
I have also written about the book that I have started to read on meditation.
4/100 I just sat for 30 minutes. I do my morning meditation after breakfast, putting away my futon and brushing my teeth. I need the cup of coffee in order not to doze off during meditation, and I want my mouth tasting fresh.
I have to confess I meditate in bed at the moment, sitting up against the headboard, morning and sometimes night too. Perhaps this isn’t ideal, but it does mean I have no excuse not to do it ;)
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