They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. I had always wanted to be disciplined enough to meditate on a daily basis and for me this also had a spiritual benefit, but I had never been able to get into a regular rhythm of doing this.
Lockdown gave me the perfect opportunity to trial developing this as habit. I found a number of things helped me:
finding a regular time slot, first thing in the morning worked best for me
identifying a quiet spot in the house
using a timer to get me into the practice of meditating for a set time and then gradually building up
setting an atmosphere, I found using an incense burner helped me to focus more on my senses and the present moment
With this approach I was able to develop a regular habit. What I have found since though is that any changes in daily routine can easily disrupt what you have established. So for example I found that when I also started fitting the gym back into my weekly routine as lockdown eased I slipped on the meditating. This has meant having to re-establish the routine by getting up a bit earlier so that I can do both.
This is something that I am going to persist with as the days when I meditate I find I am more centred, mindful, better able to focus on the day ahead and able to see things in perspective.
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