Meditation and mindfulness are definitely
En Vogue these days. The practice is being promoted in organizations as part of wellness programmes and people are becoming more interested in what it’s all about. More willing than ever to give it a try. It’s really positive to see.
Developing and maintaining a daily practice, without doubt, has had a significant impact on my life and outlook. It was something I had ‘tried’ in the past only to forget to do it the next day, or to give up after a few days as I wasn’t seeing any impact from it. Impatient perhaps? The truth is I wasn’t meditating at all. I was just thinking. Lost in my thoughts.
There came a point about 5 years ago, when life wasn’t working out so well, that I needed to get more serious with it. Some real changes were needed that only I could control. After learning more about the benefits of cultivating (that word tends to be used a lot when we talk about meditation) a daily meditation practice, I committed to a 15 minute daily guided sitting a month. No excuses. No skipping days. That rolled onto 60 days, and then it started to become more automatic. Shortly after that, changes started to happen. Positive ones. Like all activities, the more you practice, the better you get. Meditation is no different. It was and still is a game changer.
One of the most common questions asked is how do find the time to do this. I don’t have 15 minutes every day. Making the time should be your priority of course. However, there are some very simple quick practices that you can do to get yourself into the ‘now’ in just 60 seconds. You just need to find a trigger to act as a reminder.
A couple of years back, I posted a piece on
Hand Dryer Meditations using a hand dryer as the trigger. For the duration of that air blast you can connect in, notice how you’re feeling, and come off autopilot. Try it. It works.
Another method that can be done almost anytime anywhere and also only takes a minute. It involves using your 5 senses and instantly brings you back to the present moment. Making you aware of what’s going on for you at that moment & breaks the thinking cycle. You can try it right now and see how you feel after it. It simply involves noticing:
- 5 things you can see
- 4 things you can hear
- 3 things you can feel
- 2 things you can smell
- 1 thing you can taste
How did that go? Feel free to switch up the order based on your surroundings or situation. Think about a trigger point that you could use to remind you to try this a few times a day. Maybe when you get a notification on your phone? Or when you’re stuck in a queue or in traffic.
It’s these little micro-meditations that help start off a practice. And it only takes a minute.
Till tomorrow,
Rob
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Rob is a qualified Executive Coach (ICF) and has been Mentoring and Coaching over the last decade in various roles held during his career. In 2017, Rob launched the Rob of the Green Platform which hosts the 1% Better Podcast. Rob currently is a director of Project Management and Leadership Coaching at Dell in Cork, Ireland. Rob also publishes articles on productivity, leadership, goal setting, meditation, and other topics, like this one!
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