How to Make Meditation a Daily Habit
Meditation is one of the most beneficial additions to your daily routine, but first it has to be embedded into this routine. Just like incorporating new activities into your daily groove, starting to meditate does not always come easy. It might seem overwhelming trying to complete your practice every day, but with the right preparation and mindset, it's doable.
I hope this article will help you resist the feelings of self-doubt, discomfort, or impatience that may come as you start to add this practice to your life. The rewards of mediation are so worth it, and you’ve already made the first step.
Add meditation to an existing routine
One of the most effective ways to integrate a new habit into your daily routine is to tie it to an already existing habit. This process is known as habit stacking, and studies have shown that by attaching habits to one another leads to completing more tasks in less time, leading to a positive change in your life.
Using habit stacking to incorporate meditation into your routine might look something like this: say you start every morning by having coffee, brushing your teeth, and making your bed. Try incorporating meditation between two of these steps, and now your routine becomes having coffee, meditating, brushing your teeth, and making your bed. Consistency here is key, and by creating this “stack” every morning, you will find it easier to complete your meditation practice.
Aim for consistency, not length
When you're just getting started with meditation, the more consistent you are, the better. Once you have established a meditation routine that works for you, you can start to extend the time you spend practicing. It's better to meditate for 5 minutes every single day, rather than meditate for a longer period of time once per week. Consistency will always trump length!
To get started, set a goal you feel you can achieve even on your busiest of days. Make it so incredibly easy that you can’t back out and get overwhelmed. Once you’ve mastered the consistency, you can always add time to your meditation. However, don’t get overly ambitious and then find yourself making excuses. Slow and steady wins the race.
Find a quiet, comfortable space
To make the practice easier, you want to get rid of anything that may distract you. Start by finding someplace you feel comfortable in. This could just be your couch, or maybe your bed. The location doesn't matter as long as it feels comfortable for you. As well as feeling comfortable in your space, make sure the position you’re in is comfortable too. You don’t have to sit in the traditional upright, cross legged position seen most often, you can try lying down instead. If your body isn’t comfortable you may get distracted by aches and pains, which will take away from the success of your practice.
Focus on the habit, not the result
Most people put too much pressure on chasing better results from meditation. Rather than focusing on how the meditation is going, worry about creating the habit.
As you focus on creating the habit, the results will come along all on their own. If you try too hard to focus on meditating “better”, the practice will start to feel more like a chore, and less like a self care practice. Go easy on yourself, and build that consistency.
Enjoy the journey
Mediation is not a one stop shop to “fix” anything going on in your life, so don’t treat it as such. Mediation is a practice to take with you throughout your whole life, rather than thinking about how great you are going to feel in the future, stay focused on how you feel now.
Meditation is a learning process, and you’ll have ups and downs as you try to get consistent, but be easy on yourself and stick with it. Meditating provides you with small moments reserved for you, and only you. Accept them as such and enjoy.
Final thoughts
While incorporating meditation into your daily routine may seem intimidating at first, it is totally possible. Here are a few tips to get started:
Add your meditation practice to another step in your daily routine, to make the addition more seamless.
Consistency is the most important thing when you are building a new habit, so focus on meditating everyday rather than once a week for a longer period of time. Once your routine is established, then you can work on extending your practice.
Meditation is a practice meant for you and only you, so do it in the way that leaves you feeling the most satisfied.
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