Mid day nap or meditation challenge - 30 days

I think I got to 25/30 or something, then I actually gave up. I usually don't do that kind of thing, which makes me feel I should give an explanation. It was much easier to do this during my vacation, then when I got back to work it was hard to fit this on the schedule (busy day, kids at home, etc). Also, I didn't feel the benefits were big enough to continue, so I stopped.

When it comes to mental rest, workout actually helps me more. That could be the reason why I didn't feel the benefits (I work out every day).

@The Great Safecracker , do you feel you get something out of this? It would be very interesting to know a bit of your experience, also what kind of meditation you do. Most of the times, I did ten minutes of concentration exercise (concentrating on my breath), followed by ten minutes of mental silence, e.g. bringing my mind back each time it wandered away.

When I do my workouts, I don't want to talk to others and I only want to focus on my training. My mind is at the very present moment and I'm trying to push myself to the very edge every time. That wouldn't be possible if I allowed myself to think about other things or talk to others. Suddenly I realise why I didn't gain so much from meditation, I already do the mental exercises while I'm working out.

 

My goal is to notice the thoughts as they arise. It's funny when you try to do this, but suddenly notice all kind of thoughts partying in your mind. How did they get past your surveillance?

There was a time when I was more active in doing these things. I learned a lot and found it very useful in many ways. For example, once I commited a whole week for meditation, and did basically nothing else. Since then, I've done it for 2-3 days at most. However, it should be about consistency anyway.

For the last year, I haven't been active, and I feel I haven't done a good job with this challenge this time either. I guess I haven't made it important enough, with skipped days and a mentality of just getting the ten minutes done. I don't know, maybe a challenge format is not best for meditation in the first place. However, I try to make it to the finish line.

Very nice! I guess this is what I anticipated:

I'm going to try running meditation again today.

 

I lost awareness over my mind pretty quickly, and I'm afraid it didn't come back.

15 minutes lying on the floor today. 8/30

 

9/30

I tried not to concentrate on the uncomfort I was feeling.

 

As soon as I tell myself to think about nothing, thoughts that I want to avoid the most pops up first. Like some childhood memories from over 30 years ago suddenly pops into my mind. It feels like the association between "think about nothing" and these memories keeps getting stronger. So they get past my surveillance for sure

 

To my understanding, to have no thoughts is not the main goal in meditation. Rather, it is to see the thoughts as they arise, and hence realize the disconnection between them and your consciousness. Seeing this disconnection is what makes meditation useful for people suffering from chronic pain, for example.

It's quite okay if thoughts arise. What often happens is that you didn't actually notice when they appeared. All of a sudden you realize they've been going on for a while in your head, even if you tried to be aware of them.

 

12/30

10 minutes sitting. Got carried away at least four times.

 

13/30

 

14/30

That was midnight meditation.

 

16/30

 

17/30

 

18/30

10 minutes after a workout.

 

starting myself 40 days meditation twice a day. Pl help me in motivating to stay course..

 

19/30

This time I actually did mid day meditation.

Okay, nice goal.

 

20/30

Frequently returning my mind into a state of awakeness.

 

21/30

Two skipped days. That was a mistake.

During today's meditation my mind was uneasy and anxious.

 

22/30

Today I wanted to set a timer for 10 minutes meditation on my phone. Accidentally I did set it for 10 hours. Usually I try to resist the temptation to look up the time for how much is "left", but today my patience ran out!

 

23/30

 

24/30

Thoughts popping up here and there.