You set a goal to meditate for fifteen minutes at 4 pm every day. Before you know it, 4 pm rolls around, and you’re not in the mood. The next day at 4 pm, you want to meditate, but you’re very busy. The day after that, right around 4 pm, you decide to take a nap.
And so on, and so on. After a week, you’re so discouraged that you give up.
However, every excuse (or very good reason) you find to skip meditation is a sign that you need to meditate ASAP. Stop clinging to the idea that you have to meditate at a certain time of day for a certain amount of time.
Look for these six signs, drop everything, and meditate.
You’re Bored/Uninspired
“I don't feel like meditating” is perhaps the biggest reason to meditate. What do we normally do when we’re bored? Distract ourselves. Pick up the phone, turn on the TV, check out. But what if you found a cure for boredom, not just a quick fix?
The cure for boredom is creativity, and meditation increases creativity.
You Don’t Sleep Well at Night
A nap does sound good right now. But if we take a nap, it might be even more difficult to get enough sleep at night. And of course, not getting enough sleep at night is the reason we want a nap. It’s a vicious cycle.
Again, let’s heal the problem at the root. Mindfulness and meditation improve sleep quality and reduce sleep anxiety.
Work is Crazy
With your schedule, it was probably a crazy idea to think you’d ever make time for meditation, right? No. The busiest people (and most successful) make time to meditate because it helps them get things done.
Meditation is associated with greater cortical thickness. Greater cortical thickness is linked to the intellect, productivity, and reasoning skills.
You’re Anxious
If you’re wound up, it makes sense that sitting down to clear your mind (ha!) sounds impossible. But the fact remains that meditating is one of the most effective ways to manage anxiety. If you can’t sit still, engage in one of our two favorite ways to meditate on the move - long walks or playing your singing bowl.
You’d Really Rather Do Something Else
What are you telling yourself about meditation? That it’s boring, that you’re not good at it, or maybe even not good enough to make use of the benefits? We’ll choose to do absolutely anything else if we feel that a task will be challenging or that we won’t immediately “succeed”.
If you find your negative thought patterns pulling you away from meditation, keep moving toward it! Stop listening to criticisms and judgments; you’re taking it too seriously. Try thinking of it as just a bit of quiet time.
You’re Reading This
Sometimes, you just need a reminder that its time, and you can do this. Drop us a comment below letting us know how often you meditate, and then go get your fifteen minutes in!