Slow Build Meditation – Christine Checks In

 

I’m enjoying my practice so far.

 

I mean, I both enjoy the practice of meditating and I enjoy that I have a daily meditation practice.

 

Here’s what I have learned so far:

 

Perfectly imperfect, perhaps?

I have meditated on six of seven days. I actually started by ‘failing’ right out of the gate. I didn’t think about the fact that I was having people over on Canada Day so I would have lots of prep to do for that, and I had visitors until late into the evening. I decided not to worry about it and just pick things up on the 2nd. (that’s why this post is today, and my meditation app is happy for me to have seven days in a row – it includes today)

 

I think I have only managed to do two sessions on three of seven days. Despite that, I still feel that twice a day is worth working toward and even if I can’t do it every day, it’s great on the days that it happens.

 

And even though I haven’t been able to get myself to sit twice a day, meditation has come to my mind at other times when I couldn’t just sit and I chose to do my task more while breathing steadily. I guess, then, that I chose to be more mindful of those tasks?

 

So, if you will allow me that loophole, then I have done dishwashing meditation, icing-making meditation, lawn mowing meditation, and a walking meditation. That seems like a positive to me. 🙂

 

‘Don’t be precious about things, Christine’

 

When I set out my plan for how I was going to meditate, I thought that clearly picturing myself meditating on my yoga mat on my living room floor, would be helpful. I thought it would be a good (metaphorically) separate space, a marker for when I should meditate.

 

However, my household was a bit busy this week and I couldn’t always commandeer the living room for my own purposes.

 

I was annoyed with myself at first for not picking a better plan but then I remembered that there is no point in being precious* about the details (the heading for this section is a direct quote from me talking to myself). 

I have to remember that the details are supposed to serve me, not to hamper me.

 

So, I have meditated in my hammock, sitting in the front seat of my car before going into the supermarket, sitting at my kitchen table, lying on my living room floor without my mat, and lying crossways on my bed. I think I have only meditated the way I planned to on one occasion.

 

I’m completely okay with that.

 

Adjusting the plan as needed

 

Several times this week, three minutes has seemed ‘too short’, so I am taking that as a good sign for my plan to increase my time this week.

 

I think that two minutes may be my ‘getting into it’ time frame for meditation. I feel squirmy for the first minute or so (I have peeked at my timer – I am totally imperfect) and that second minute takes a fair bit of reminding to come back to my breath, but that third minute starts feeling really good. Let’s see how that holds out for my plan for six minutes this week!

 

Last week, I tried to have a specific place for meditation and that didn’t play out as I imagined. This week, I am going to try to have specific times. I like having alarms and timers for things so I don’t have to make a decision in the moment, so I’m going to set an alarm for 8:30am and 8:30pm and see how they suit me as meditation times. If for some reason I *can’t* stop what I am doing right then, I won’t just turn off the alarm, I’ll reset it for a time I will be free.

 

Big picture

 

I feel good about this practice and I feel like it is worth explore how to make it work even better for me.

 

For a change, I was unfazed by not sticking to my exact plan, I just rolled with it the best I could.

 

I wonder where the next week will take me?

 

*I have lots of things in my life that are precious to me, I’m not using the word that way. In this case, I mean that I shouldn’t get too caught up in having perfect conditions, or following a specific ideal. I fall into that trap sometimes.