And so it begins.
I am actually feeling pretty excited about this challenge and the benefits that I feel a daily meditation will bring to my life.
So how’s it going to work? Well there’s a goal so that seems to be a good place to start.
The Goal: Meditate every day for 30 days for a minimum of 10 mins each day.
There are also some guidelines. I’m specifically calling them guidelines instead of rules as I want to be able to be fluid and adapt the process as it suits me as I go along. So here are some guidelines.
- While I must meditate for 10 mins per day it doesn’t have to be in one session. If I’m really pressed for time I can do 2 x 5 min meditations.
- I can also meditate for longer than 10 mins if I want to. 10 mins is simply the minimum.
- I can use any meditation style that suits me on the day. I don’t have to commit to one particular style or anything crazy like that.
- I can meditate at any time of day I wish.
- I am to keep notes of each meditation.
- I will blog about my experience weekly.
That seems like enough to me.
So yes, as I said, I will be keeping notes of each day on my 30 day challenge page but I’m only going to do a blog update once per week. I don’t want to bore you all to death with minute detail. My blog updates will be split into a daily summary so I can mention the style of meditation I used and whether or not it worked, that sort of thing. I also feel that blogging about it weekly will better capture if there is any impact at all to my day to day life.
So why 10 mins per day? Well I’ll let former monk (and my new bestie), Andy Puddicombe, fill you in on that. His talk “All it takes is 10 mindful minutes” is brilliant and at just under 10 mins will take barely any time out of your life to watch. I know I’ve posted it before but it’s so awesome I’m embedding it in here again for you.
Because I know that most of you will skip past the vid I’ve watched it AGAIN (I love it anyway, hardly a big ask) and pulled out my favorite quotes. Voila!
“We are so distracted that we are no longer present in the world in which we live.”
“There was a research paper that came out of Harvard just recently that said on average our minds are lost in thought almost 47% of the time, 47%. At the same time this sort of constant mind wandering is also a direct cause of unhappiness.”
WOW. So that means all you people out there with the racey minds like me, you are more predisposed to being unhappy if you don’t get your head under control. You, more than anyone, need this in your life.
“…meditation is familiarising ourselves with the present moment”
“…meditation offers the opportunity, the potential, to step back and get a different perspective, to see that things aren’t always as they appear.”
“We can’t change every little thing that happens to us in life, but we can change the way that we experience it. That’s the potential of meditation, of mindfulness. You don’t have to burn any incense, and you definitely don’t have to sit on the floor. All you need to do is to take 10 mins out a day to step back; to familiarise yourself with the present moment so that you get to experience a greater sense of focus, calm and clarity in your life.”
Do you think he left life as monk to find a woman??? I’m in love.
Ahem. Anyway…
Don’t forget, Jennifer over at More Than An Expat is also joining me on this journey. She will be blogging about it too so be sure to head over and follow her blog (it’s worth checking out even without the meditating so scoot on over there).
Also, before I go I want to give a big shout out to Chelle over at Chelle’s Reflections. I follow Chelle’s blog and she recently embarked on a 30 day yoga challenge which is what got me inspired in the first place. When she blogged about the positive effect that her yoga was having on her ability to focus on her studies I decided that’s it, I’m in. Thanks, Chelle!
Lastly, if you have a 30 day challenge you are itching to do then get yourself over to the My 30 day challenge website. You can sign up and put it all in writing and be accountable to the world. Huzzah!
