October 22nd, 2015 
Lynn 
I’m on Day 9 of Meditation Affirmation and so far so good. All this means is I have meditated every single day. Some days the meditation was more engrossing tha other days. But I set the bar low wanting to feel successful. It seems as though I was onto something.
There’s an excellent post in the Huffington Post enitled “The 3 Things that finally helped me stick with meditation”. The post is written by an amateur meditator (like myself) who recognized a million right reasons to meditate (like me) but felt like she was failing if incorrect thoughts entered the mind. The author experienced guilt about short meditations and didn’t want to come off as a “yogi master” knowing that she was an actual newbie. Once she shifted her paradigm to believe the following three things, she was able to stick with meditating. These are definitely worth sharing:
- Short meditation sessions are valuable. Who has an hour to more to meditate daily? If you do make that time, then good on you. For me, honestly, there were a few 10 minute meditation sessions when distractions occurred (phone ringing, kids tugging, etc). I look forward to an hour of uninterrupted time (my future goal!).
- Replace the term “meditation” with what makes you feel comfortable: “relaxing time”, “time for self”, etc. Often times we feel meditation translates to the Dalai Lama or week long retreats. Choose a title that you feel comfortable with.
- Thoughts are part of meditating. I too believed that distracting thoughts meant I wasn’t meditating or that I stunk at it. Meditation is a time to accept; not resist.
How are you doing as we approach the 10th day of the 10 Day Meditation Affirmation Invitation? (I couldn’t resist all of the “ations”:)) Will you continue? Do you have beliefs that are holding you back?
I’d love to hear from you.
Be well,
Lynn
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One of the most helpful tips I have learned from Pema Chodron, Buddhist teacher is this–get gappy! What this means is the more gaps you can integrate into your day, the more mindful you will become. A gap literally is a cycle of 3 deep breaths, soaking in the sounds, smells, sights &/or sensations of that moment. As a mom I feel like I can do this even when my children are present. It’s fun to watch my transformation from just a quick mini meditation.
Thank you Deanna for sharing such valuable insight. I typically encourage my children to take three deep breaths when they are frustrated but never thought to use it myself!