123 Days of Meditation

At the beginning of the year, I committed to meditating everyday in 2018. I have now meditated 123 straight days!

Here is how I have benefited from meditation.

Focus is a powerful skill. One stress I was attempting to manage prior to my new practice of everyday meditation was this constant feeling of being overwhelmed. I keep myself busy. It keeps me stimulated. But I got to a point of bugging out on a ton of things to do, and not getting any of them done. I hit a wall. Meditation has taught me a very simple lesson. The lesson is to focus on one task at a time and knock it out before scatter braining your way into 4 other tasks. I commit to 45 minute blocks of getting shit done. Then I take a small break, refresh, and get after it again. Strange as it seems, getting a lot done means focusing on one thing at a time and chipping away at it as best you can. Prioritize and do the best you can.

I have been very active since a young age. Tee ball at the age of five and hooked to sporting ever since. Biking, skating, footballing, rec league soccer, body surfing, running, gyming, hiking, climbing, boarding… all of them. I like moving. Now 34, I feel fit and still spring around like a kid when given the chance. However, all the years of putting strain on my body has worn some parts of my body down. Meditation has been great for healing my physical body. Body scan meditations, for example, are one type of meditation that can help you heal your body.

Happy relationships require empathy. Meditation has taught me more about stepping out of my self to better understand the feelings of others. This applies to work and home. Meditation has given me this “breath buffer”, if you will. It's not easy to put into words, but it basically is this new ability to tap into breathing as a way of keeping my heart rate steady and allowing me time to empathize, instead of react.

Try meditation out. You can use an app to guide you or look up some guides online. 10 minutes a day is an easy starting point.