It is important to highlight something here about habit acquisition.
Go slowly and make sure all changes are life appropriate.
If we go too hard,
Too soon,
We risk dropping the practice entirely.
It is like the clichéd New Year's resolution to commit to dieting and exercise.
Typically,
The first week or so goes well.
We spend every day in the gym and have home-cooked meals each night.
We say no to fast food and elevators and yes to the stairs.
But eventually,
Life catches up.
The tasks we push out of our schedule to make time for the gym become urgent and we skip a day.
We are invited out and think,
Just one dessert won't hurt.
Soon we are exercising every other day and then once a week.
We realize that cooking takes far more time and effort than ordering in and become tempted by the latest shows.
Within a month or two,
We are back to where we started,
Waiting for the next year to roll around so we can try it all again.
Alternatively,
We maintain our new diet and exercise regime with discipline and vigor.
But we push ourselves so hard that we overdo it and get injured or feel like we are starving due to caloric restriction.
We pushed ourselves too hard and eventually our bodies gave out.
A better approach to diet and exercise would be to make a commitment to reach a particular functional goal over a prolonged time.
Perhaps that by the end of the year,
You'll be exercising every second day and would have cut out all sugary drinks from your diet.
This approach would be far more likely to succeed because it would be implemented slower and thus would be far more life appropriate.
You would find the time around your current activities and would be less likely to injure yourself.
We need to approach our meditation practice with the same mentality.
It is very tempting for some people to decide to jump straight in the deep end,
Committing themselves to multiple hours of mindfulness practice from the get-go.
Although I've read some stories from the traditional literature about particularly gifted sages who managed such a feat,
I'm yet to see anyone in real life be able to maintain it.
They start off strong but quickly quit.
They simply do not have the skills,
Training,
Techniques or stamina necessary to sit for so long.
Not to mention the fact that most people are quite time poor to begin with.
It is for this reason that I suggest people start with the basic mindfulness meditation described in the getting started section.
Just five minutes a day,
Each day,
At least until that amount is easily managed and more time can be added.
And if five minutes seems a stretch,
One minute a day is infinitely better than none.
Once again,
If we return to the exercise analogy,
Imagine how much stronger and fitter you would be if you simply added just one minute of squats.
Or push-ups to your day,
Every day.
Sure,
Five minutes would produce better results than one.
But you would be far better off now had you been doing that one minute for the last year.
The same is true for meditation.
I suggest this simple rule to people when they are implementing a meditation practice,
Or any new habit really,
Into their lives.
Commit as much time to meditation each day as you can see yourself committing to it in one year.
By taking this approach,
You will detach from your current enthusiasm and expectations,
And will be in a better position to accurately judge just how much time you personally will be able to commit.
Alternatively,
You could choose to start small and then slowly increase your meditation time.
For example,
Start with five minutes a day,
Or even just one.
Then each month,
Increase your meditation time by one to five minutes until you find an amount that works for you.
I started with five minutes a day and worked up from there.
My formal meditation practice now consists of 20 minutes of silent meditation,
Followed by 10 minutes guided.
I do this every morning without fail.
Some days,
If I have the time,
I will increase this to an hour or more,
Or I will add aspects of mindfulness to other activities.
But barring some kind of emergency,
I never do less.
With work,
Family,
And my online commitments,
This amount of time is what works for me.
If my life circumstances change,
The amount of time I spend meditating will also have to change accordingly.
Incorporating meditation into your morning or night routines is an excellent way to take the decision-making out of the equation.
If meditation is simply something you do each morning,
Alongside some exercise and other activities,
You simply get up each morning and do it.
There are no decisions to be made and no amount of motivation needed.
It's like brushing your teeth or taking your vitamins.
Meditation is just another thing you do.
Give it a try for a month and see if a morning routine works for you.
This talk was taken from the book Mindfulness,
A guidebook to the present moment.
