In case you hadn’t noticed yet, May 21 is World Meditation Day. What’s it about, apart from the obvious? According to India Today, it’s just what it says: a time to think about pausing and existing in the here and now.
This day is all about encouraging people to meditate and showing the benefits of meditation to everyone. It’s a chance to think about how meditation can help us relax, feel better both mentally and physically, and connect.
The day focuses on the importance of meditation for keeping peace, clarity, and strength. World Meditation Day helps us take care of our mental and emotional health.
Meditation is a simple practice that can help everyone. By meditating, we can connect with our inner selves, become more aware, and manage our emotions better.
Yeah, I can totally get behind that. In fact, I’ve sort of been preparing for today, using the ramp-up exercises from my Ten Percent Happier app. Last week, they started the big countdown with an activity for each day leading up to today. Here’s their seven-day list:
- set an intention– it could be for more focus, or serenity, or gratitude, whatever.
- take a tech timeout– set aside some time with no notifications or noise from phones, computers, etc.
- eat a mindful meal– create a meal for yourself to be eaten without distractions, just noticing the food, the environment, and your own senses.
- do some mindful listening– take some time to sit/stand/lie down/walk with a focus on listening to the sounds around you.
- reflect on gratitude– think about what and who you are grateful for in this moment, in these times, in this life.
- embrace simplicity– this isn’t about cleaning out your closets, but rather asking yourself what you actually need and bringing your attention there. This is my favorite one.
So, what am I doing for World Meditation Day? I’ve done my morning meditation, and will take some extra time to do a walking one. I’m dog sitting, so it may be combined with walking Dixie the dog. And I wrote this blog post to share with you the possibilities for today and other days moving forward.
I also wrote this post to share with you a picture of a cute frog meditating. Om.
