{"id":6092,"date":"2014-09-06T05:45:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-06T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?p=6092"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:38:48","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:38:48","slug":"getting-started-meditating-making-time-for-myself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/getting-started-meditating-making-time-for-myself\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting started meditating, making time for myself"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"My<\/a>
My meditation does not feel this peaceful yet. But I’m committing to learning to quiet my mind.
Photo from Hartwig HKD used under Creative Commons license.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nI’ve heard several people extol the virtues of meditation over the years, from author Deepak Chopra to my husband, and I’ve always had excuses why I didn’t do it.
\nI didn’t know how, I had trouble quieting my brain — but the biggest reason was feeling like I didn’t have\u00a0time.
\nIn “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success,”<\/a> Chopra advocates meditating 30 minutes in the morning and again 30 minutes in the evening. Who has a spare hour to just sit quietly and do nothing?
\nBut I never really have totally open, unscheduled time — if I did, that would probably mean I was already sitting quietly — and instead, I make time for what matters. A few years back, I wrote about\u00a0author Laura Vanderkam’s time management recommendations<\/a>, including saying “It’s not a priority,” instead of \u201cI don\u2019t have time\u201d to remind ourselves\u00a0that time is a choice\u00a0and if\u00a0we don\u2019t like how we\u2019re spending an hour, we can choose differently.
\nThe Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a> says adults without children under 18 typically engage in about 4.5 hours of leisure activities each day, and about three of those hours are watching television. While we don’t have cable and don’t sit in front of the TV nightly, I still think there’s a message there about having free time that you can spend on what matters.
\nJohn and I recently committed to going to the gym three times a week, which requires making that a priority in our planning. Likewise, meditation required making a decision that my mental health is important enough to make time.
\nSo I took a baby step and committed to sitting quietly for 15 minutes each morning. That’s a fraction of what Chopra recommends, but it’s a start.
\nMeditation is just a formal word for “sit still, shut up.” Don’t watch TV or read a book, and in the sitting still, try to quiet your brain. Instead of thinking about what you need to do that day or whatever’s stressing you out, give your brain a break.
\nWhy\u00a0meditate?<\/p>\n