People swear by the restorative benefits of meditation and it’s ability to help calm the mind, but if I’m being completely honest, meditation has always been really difficult for me. I’d tried tips about focusing and tricking your mind, and nothing really worked.  But then, an instructor told me something that completely changed my approach to meditation. He told me to just sit with my eyes closed and let go of any expectation.

THIS CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR ME. No expectations, no goals, no game plan. Just sit and be. 

Don’t get me wrong, it was really hard at first. My mind is always going and thoughts come in and out at breakneck speeds, but I kept with it and starting January 1st I committed to sitting every day for a month...for just a few minutes.  It was tough at first, but about a week in, something different started to happen, my mind started to get out of the way and I spent more time sitting peacefully and less time thinking. The more peace I found, the more I wanted to meditate. In fact, It’s making a big difference in how I approach my day. I’m one month in, yup, one month of daily meditations and rather than dreading those minutes of sitting quietly alone, I’m looking forward to them and carving extra time into my schedule so I can enjoy longer meditations.  I’m going to stay on this journey and my next milestone is 2 months, but in the meantime here are my recommendations for anyone else who might want to dive into the world of meditation with me...even if for only a few minutes a day. 

1. Release expectations - don’t worry about what you think should happen during your meditation, just sit and breathe and let everything else happen on its own. 

2. Commit to small amounts of time at first - a few minutes a day makes it easy to work meditation into your schedule, if you over commit to long sessions of time, (if you are like me) you will feel guilty when you miss them and demotivated. A few minutes a day is attainable!  

3. Find a location with minimal distractions - for me this can be anywhere as long as I have my noise cancelling headphones on. I highly recommend headphones to help drown out external noise if you are easily distracted. 

4. Try different styles of meditation - I enjoy sitting quietly, but sometimes a nice guided meditation can help clear the mind. Also, soft music can be pleasant for helping to dull background noises if needed. 

5. Don’t give up! - It may take days, weeks, or months to find what style of meditation works for you, but it’s soooo worth it! 

Thanks for reading and I hope you will give it a try and let me know how it goes. I’d also love to know if you have any tips that make your meditation practice even better.  I plan on doing a post talking about the changes I’ve seen since I started a daily meditation practice as well and I’ll be sure to share it soon!