Day 304 Picked my girl up around 12. She worked from my home today and we celebrated Valentine's Day in the evening. Had a great dinner. 15 minutes: focus meditation 10 minutes: external awareness meditation in a parked car 20 minutes: external awareness meditation in a parked car 10 minutes: breathing meditation 5 minutes: focus meditation 60 minutes of meditation - DONE
Good on you that you start again! If 10 minutes is too much, then you start with 5 minutes every day so you have a sure win. Continuing to meditate is better than meditating long periods of time that you can't keep up.
Day 51 20 minutes We might think we're sitting with the same mind each time we meditate. But, like watching a flowing stream, we never see the same water twice.
Thank you for the encouragement! You are right! I was trying to meditate for 30 minutes in one single session. Keeping it up was difficult. 10 minutes is a modest goal for me.
15/02/2024: Morning Meditation: Day: 320 Week: 47 Month: 10 05 Minutes - Extroceptive Mindfulness Meditation ( Eyes Open ) - DONE (( Exceptional Morning )) ------------------------------------------- Evening Meditation: Day: 320 Week: 47 Month: 10 05 Minutes - Introceptive Mindfulness Meditation ( Eyes Closed ) - DONE (( Exceptional Evening ))
Day 305 A quiet, mindful day where I did recovery work and worked on my Amends Matrix. Was directly able to use it in speaking with my girl. She was happy to hear my process and how I already started to do it. 13 minutes: focus meditation 30 minutes: breathing meditation 17 minutes: breathing meditation 60 minutes of meditation - DONE
16/02/2024: Morning Meditation: Day: 321 Week: 47 Month: 10 05 Minutes - Extroceptive Mindfulness Meditation ( Eyes Open ) - DONE (( Exceptional Morning )) ------------------------------------------- Evening Meditation: Day: 321 Week: 47 Month: 10 05 Minutes - Introceptive Mindfulness Meditation ( Eyes Closed ) - DONE (( Exceptional Evening ))
Day 306 of meditation Picked up my girl early, but did manage to find time during my day to get my minutes in. 30 minutes: breathing meditation 15 minutes: focus meditation 15 minutes: focus meditation 60 minutes of meditation - DONE
17/02/2024: Morning Meditation: Day: 322 Week: 47 Month: 10 15 Minutes - Extroceptive Mindfulness Meditation ( Eyes Open ) - DONE (( Exceptional Morning )) ------------------------------------------- Evening Meditation: Day: 322 Week: 47 Month: 10 05 Minutes - Introceptive Mindfulness Meditation ( Eyes Closed ) - DONE (( Exceptional Evening ))
Day 307 Had a nerve wrecking day and didn't have the motivation to really meditate. Still got most of my minutes in. 15 minutes: focus meditation 15 minutes: breathing meditation 10 minutes: focus meditation 40 minutes of meditation - DONE
Day 54 (yesterday) 15 minutes. My day 51 was 3 nights ago. My meditation sessions since then have been slacking a bit. Day 52, I think I only did 5 minutes. Day 53 was good. Day 54 which was yesterday, I did 15 minutes.
Great stuff, TheLinari !! Well done, JoeBimbo !! to all... Today's journal update has a lot about what's going on for me with meditation. Since cross-posting is discouraged, I invite you to follow this link. I hope you guys don't mind me dropping in from time to time. It's good to have a community of people interested in meditation. -EK
18/02/2024: Morning Meditation: Day: 323 Week: 47 Month: 10 05 Minutes - Extroceptive Mindfulness Meditation ( Eyes Open ) - DONE (( Exceptional Morning )) ------------------------------------------- Evening Meditation: Day: 323 Week: 47 Month: 10 05 Minutes - Introceptive Mindfulness Meditation ( Eyes Closed ) - DONE (( Exceptional Evening ))
Hi @Don80 I posted here to introduce you to this daily meditation challenge. (Lemme know if you want me to delete the quote). It's a good group of people who are supportive and can offer useful tips. I meditate between 45 minutes and several hours per day. 20 - 40 minutes in the morning before getting out of bed (eyes open, on my back; first part is about relaxing the body) 17 minutes eyes open usually in the morning, outside, in the sunlight (if it's not raining hard) 20 - 40 minutes in the evening when going to bed (same as morning) I also do my morning commute (40 minutes) and my yoga exercises (20 minutes) as meditation. Meditating while driving works because I don't fall asleep any more like I did when I first started. It also works because the style of meditation uses "the open spaciousness of awareness" as the object of meditation. The encouragement is to establish a daily practice, however brief. It's OK to also do meditations ad hoc to relax or calm the mind, but best in addition to a regular practice. There are times when my meditation doesn't seem to work - it's just breathing, no sensations, no calmness - it's like resting. Sometimes I need 20 minutes to be satisfied with its effects, at other times I need to sit way longer. Meditation is best understood as a way to establish a connection with the reality of what's going on right now. It often has nice effects, but that's not its purpose. It's convenient that the nice effects motivate us to continue our practice, but on the other hand, that doesn't mean that meditation without the nice effects is "useless" or "bad". It's particularly important to recognize that every time we bring the wandering mind back to the object of focus, that's a (+1) victory. Ascending a staircase. Brought the mind back 100 times in four minutes? Awesome! I mainly focus on my breath / thoughts / emotions and my body. First the thoughts must flow, then emotions and the body sensations seem to occur. Finally, the breath makes me calm. Yes, this is a way. Do you do the visualizations to cause some changes in the brain or in the body? I guess it might help to focus. I can't do visualizations to save my life. My daughter can. Maybe I'm just too old. But yes, Alan Wallace said the visualizations are a way to keep the mind occupied while the non-conceptual stuff is going on. Useful but not essential. It's too bad the guided meditations you've found so far are distracting. They can be helpful. Perhaps you will find a teacher that works for you in the future. -EK
