My 7 Day Meditation Experiment

The weeklong experiment started last Saturday. Despite some challenges I was able to put in 30 minutes each day. Initially the sessions felt very long. For the first three days I was unable to get through a session without looking at my watch to see how much time had passed. On the first day 16 minutes, the second day 25 minutes then 28. Eventually I was able to push through, or more aptly surrender, and sit for the full 30 minutes without feeling the need to look at my watch. My mind still jumps around and I’m award of body comfort. Sitting up straight against a wall helps.

Despite having declared three-time blocks when the experiment started, I was practicing randomly. Times that tended to ‘interfere’ the least with other daily activities were used. That doesn’t work. On the last day it became clear that setting a time and sticking to it was the best path to successfully cultivating the habit. During the trial period, I have enough positives associated with meditation that I deemed I would stick to it. The timeframe I have selected moving forward is 8:30 pm. I’m incorporating habit stacking. When attempting to change or introduce a new habit, it is advantageous to combine it with a current habit hence habit stacking.

At some point along the way, I realized that I felt better and slept more peacefully when I habitually went to bed at the same time each night. Since I am such a morning person, I bravely set the time at 8:30. Bravely, because it was a bit awkward to hold initially. At social gatherings I was leaving early or excusing myself to head to bed. We try to plan activities around it, and I let friends know prior to getting together. That helps. Now it has become my thing and people just roll with it. A few have even thanked me or given me kudos for setting the priority. I just know that I feel better and that makes it worth defending the time.

When I was involved in Lean rollouts with work, we learned about the concept of defending time to protect most valued activities. It makes sense in our personal lives too. Declaring it and holding it just takes a bit of mindfulness, and wiliness to endure awkward moments. At some point you will be asked and expected to give in. That choice is up to you. Each situation is different. For whatever reason, it seems to me, that the moment you declare an intention or change, the universe conspires to test you. Let it. Just observe and take it day by day. Meditation is my new habit to cultivate and explore. I am looking forward to this chapter of my wellness journey.