Does your mind behave a little like a naughty monkey, swinging you from thought to thought?
If you giggled a little, then answered YES! You are the only one...
Just kidding. Literally EVERYONE I have EVER talked to in my life has pretty much said yes.
Unless....
they were a meditator.
And this is where I come in. I have been meditating for over 25 years. It's actually been the greatest adventure of my life.
Not being on a bus in El Salvador that was hijacked, not living in a tee-pee in Colorado not even meeting my husband in Machu Picchu. Peru (though that was my favorite outside adventure.)
Meditating is, was and always will be the greatest adventure of my life.
How is that possible, you might ask? Honestly as I am writing this I understand how completely ridiculous this sounds. Still to this day I wonder, when I'm in my monkey mind, what is this huge appeal?
And then I sit
and I take a deep breath
and another deep breath
and I begin to feel these layers of darkness (stress and fear) rolling down my back into the earth. I feel my shoulders relax, my jaw slack and I start feeling the waves of my true, beautiful self surface. It's magical. The best adventure and I'm living it everyday (just about.)
But you don't have to take my word for it. You do have to commit to yourself. This magic usually doesn't happen the first time. You may feel a little relief the first time. You may also feel frustrated. Below are the 4 steps you need to take in order to begin your meditation practice. It's easy!
STEP #1:
Commit to yourself. You don't actually have to meditate for this first step. You do need to get a pen and paper...go ahead, I'll wait.
Now write the EASIEST possible daily meditation goal you can think of. You need to give it a time duration, a time of day, a place and a start date.
Example:
I commit to meditate every day AS SOON AS I walk into my house after work, in my exercise room, for 90 seconds.
I commit to meditate as soon as I arrive home from the gym IN MY CAR for 30 seconds.
STEP #2:
Set up an alarm on your phone, or a calendar invite to yourself for your start date. On the day you have committed to start make sure you honor your deal with yourself.
STEP #3.
Meditate for the time you committed, but now this is going to sound weird, ONLY the time you committed. Don't go over your time. Make sure you follow your "I commit" plan for a week. THEN the following week tweak the plan. Ask yourself "Is there a better time of the day for this? Is there a better place to meditate? Could I add another 60 seconds?
STEP #4:
Repeat step 3 every week for a month. Slowly work up your time but ONLY meditating for the short time you allowed yourself to do this.
You are creating new neural pathways in your brain by forming a NEW habit.
There are 2 ways I can support your new meditation journey.
I can do a "How to Train Your Monkey Mind" workshop at your company for a group of your peers/employees. If you want to have a conversation I have a button below to schedule a chat. Sign up for "Wellness Solution Dialog."
You can come to my weekly Thursday Meditation at 6:30 pm in Savage. Sign up for "Max Meditation" by pushing the button below.