First and foremost we should talk about establishing a time of day that's going to work for you consistently.
That could be right after waking up,
Right before going to bed,
Right after you put the kids on the school bus,
Right after you get home from work,
Whenever is best for you.
And whenever you're going to have time to consistently stick to that,
Or whenever you can,
Right now at least,
Think that you'll be able to consistently stick to it.
Some things to keep in mind when you're choosing this time and place though.
First and foremost you need to be alert enough to meditate.
So if you're the kind of person that wakes up groggy and blurry eyed and it doesn't seem to matter what you do,
It takes a long time for you to be with it,
Well maybe meditating first thing in the morning is not for you.
And that's just reality.
Also if you're the kind of person that falls into bed at the end of the day every day,
Well maybe meditating right before bed is not for you either.
But somewhere in there,
Somewhere in that range,
You're going to find a time that is good for you.
But remember that you need to be alert enough to meditate.
You also need to be in a decent frame of mind.
And I say this because things like meditating on your lunch hour while at work may not be the best solution.
You know you're probably agitated from work,
You've probably got a to-do list a mile long,
And those can be hard things to let go of.
So you need to be in a decent frame of mind.
Also try to choose a time and place and setting,
Which we'll get into in a second,
That aren't any more complicated than they need to be.
And this is going to help you with that consistency piece.
You know all you really need is a bit of time,
Somewhere to sit,
And the desire to practice,
And you can meditate.
This doesn't need to be a big complicated procedure.
Basically what you're after is a quiet place with minimal distractions or interruptions that has a good feel.
We here have a meditation room and it's got a wonderful energy and feel.
Not everybody has that.
But it could be a corner of the bedroom,
It could be in the middle of the living room floor.
But things you may want to avoid are the cold hard basement,
The middle of a factory floor,
Trying to meditate on a subway,
Somewhere with a good calm safe feel to it.
And really what it comes down to is consistency.
Whatever is going to work for you consistently,
And we're looking at seven days a week consistently,
Not just five days during the work week.
Whatever is going to work for you consistently is going to be your best bet.
And lastly,
Keep in mind that what works this week,
This month,
This year might not work next week,
Next month,
Next year.
So adaptability and flexibility is going to be a key characteristic of establishing your practice,
The ability to roll,
Roll with the punches,
Change what needs to be changed,
Keep the same what can be kept the same,
And just go with it.
Just keep practicing.
If you have to change the time of day,
What matters is that you show up and you practice.
Just like anything else,
If you're trying to exercise,
You're trying to get faster,
You're trying to get stronger,
You don't get faster or stronger if you don't show up,
If you don't do the work,
And meditating is no different.
Those kind of sublime,
Peaceful states that we're all searching for won't happen if you don't show up and you don't put in the work.
So putting a little bit of thought into the time and place in which you practice can aid you in that consistency piece,
Which becomes so important moving forward.
Enjoy your practice today.
