Meditation Challenge

            I have completed 20 days of daily meditation and the thing I have noticed the most is that even after 20 days it is still challenging.  I have been sitting down to meditate in the morning when my mind seems to be the calmest and even in the morning, I find myself with a wander mind during the majority of my session.  I am continuing to bring my mind back to my breath over and over and that is the whole part of the exercise.  I feel fatigue after my meditation sessions, but I don’t think of that as bad thing because I feel fatigue after my weight training sessions, and this is just another form of exercise just for my mind not my muscles.

            I have had sessions where I sit down to meditate and basically forget why I’m there and my mind never stops then all of sudden my timer goes off and I’m brought back to the reality of what I was doing.  I try to set an intention every time I sit down to mediate because intentions can be more grounding.  I decide at the beginning how long I want my session to be – anywhere from 5-15 minutes.  I set an alarm and start the process.  I have started a session had my mind way to busy, come out of it and let me mind run its course for a few minutes and start again. 

            I have come to realize that there is no right or wrong way, no time limit, no expectation when it comes to meditation, but commitment and intention are key.  Making time to sit down every day with my thoughts is also helping me realize that when my day gets stressful, I feel overwhelmed or my thoughts are too busy for me to keep up with I have my breath to turn to.  I also sneak in breathing snacks during the day to just set a timer for a minute or 2 and breath.  No intention other than to breath.  I’m learning a lot during this process and starting this challenge has enabled me to do it every day.  I don’t want to skip it even though I might feel like I don’t have time because I don’t want to let myself down with this challenge. 

            My hope is that after I have incorporated 100 days of daily meditation into my life, I will need it and want it just as much as I need my daily exercise.  I will continue to write about my experience during this journey.