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Published on January 25, 2022
Comments 32

Meditation? Seven days on, seven days off

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One of my last posts invited Readers to join me using the Insight Timer app to meditate daily. Or to share your own personal meditation/quiet-solo-time practices.

*sigh

I was so inspired by myself and my post, I checked in to the app every day, and religiously sat to meditate.

Until I didn’t.

Then a week went by, and I still didn’t.

Now it’s been two weeks, and I’m continuing to not sit.

*sigh

One of my three New Year’s eve intentions was to not be self-critical; I do absolutely love myself, and all my flaws (not that there’s many haha), BUT I will still be quick to criticise myself sometimes- like most of us, I’m guessing.

So I’m trying to resist feeling disappointed with my lack of meditation discipline, and admit that I’ve been on holidays/had visitors/been housesitting etc.

*sigh

Still, it’s not THAT hard to find five or ten minutes to sit quietly is it G?

Is it sabotage? Am I truly just a lazy person? Do I have no self-discipline?

*sigh

How easy it is to create mental anguish and unhealthy stories, which is the antithesis of the intention to meditate!

How have you been going?

I decided I needed to blog about it, get it off my chest, confess to my failure, and begin again.

And of course this week we lost an incredible meditator and advocate for mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh. I’m sure many of us have been profoundly changed by his teachings, even if they’ve simply been watered down to a mindfulness quote on Facebook. His gentle power reached everywhere, and he invited us all to live in the Now, nowhere else.

So in his honour, here we go: beginning again Now…

In gratitude for Zen Buddhism & mindfulness, G xO

32 Comments

  1. acflory says

    I know I’m contrary but…don’t you get the same effect when you go outside with [or without] your first coffee of the day and commune with your plants? Or spend time helping them grow? Maybe /your/ way of meditating simply doesn’t have anything to do with technology or an app. 🙂

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    • bone&silver says

      That’s so true. I have been doing a lot of weeding lately, sitting quietly on a stool, glasses on so I don’t miss a single pesky leaf of my mortal enemy the Creeping Inch Weed, and it is VERY mindful & peaceful 🙂 Thanks Meeks 🙂

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      • acflory says

        -grin- I had to look that one up. Pretty sure we don’t have it down here. Sadly we have just about everything else. Grats on winning the war /and/ being zen about it. 🙂

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  3. gigglingfattie says

    Aw its hard to keep up sometimes! I don’t think you should see it as a failure but as a learning experience. Were you doing every day before? Maybe the committment was just too much at once and a slower transition to every day is better?

    I also didn’t know that Thich Nhat Hnah had passed! Such a sad realization.

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  4. Bitchy After 60 says

    Some people, myself included, find it difficult to just sit quietly. I don’t consider that a failure. I actually find I do better in the garden or walking outside where my brain can either be silent or help me work through issues that are bothering me. Everyone is different. What works for one person may not work for the next. Nothing to beat yourself up over.

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    • bone&silver says

      Yes, so true! I have been doing a lot of peaceful weeding lately, and feeling very calm when I come in. So that counts hey? I’m not going to beat myself up, don’t worry, but I was a little surprised I’d fallen off the [planned] mindful wagon 🙂 Gardening is good I agree

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  5. Ann Coleman says

    I don’t think you’re lazy, but I do think that if you’re finding it that difficult to find time to meditate, that maybe it just isn’t for you. Or at least this particular form of meditation isn’t for you. If we truly want to do something, we always find time. I would try another form and see if that works better for you!

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      • Ann Coleman says

        That can be mediation for sure! My mother-in-law used to love gardening, even when the rest of the family thought she was too old for it and worried about the exertion. But she said that her time in the garden was her time to think things through, and that she really needed it. I think we all have to find out own way, and our own coping mechanisms.

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  6. btrb says

    Don’t be so hard on yourself. There are endless ways to meditate. You don’t have to be sitting down in a quiet room in a yoga pose to do it! I find my best time to meditate is while I’m doing puzzles or playing my flute. I love your posts, BTW.

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    • bone&silver says

      Thank you so much for reading & commenting 🙂 You’re right: I was being a bit tough on myself… and I do find myself in an altered state when I dance or walk sometimes. I appreciate you dropping by, G 🙂

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  7. arlingwoman says

    Wow, you’ve got some great ideas in the comments. I was never able to get onto that app, but I do meditate. One of the things I’ve found helpful, especially at times when it’s difficult to sit, is to do it at transitional times–where one part of your day is changing for another. This could be morning, when you come home from work, before bed–it depends how your days shake out. And also, like a few people said, going for a walk in nature can be meditation time. Just keep exploring times and places and modes (walking, sitting, cycling, or just sitting on a porch and watching trees and sky and critters…

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  8. brilliantviewpoint says

    Meditation falls in the category of Exercise. Why do we resist, when we feel better? I decided I preferred the pain of exercise to the pain in my stomach for feeling back about NOT exercising. Guess what – I now have a HABIT, I have to exercise for me, because I feel better. SAME will happen with you and meditation. If you do love it, you do want it, pick that time and do it every day. POST about it, share a picture of where you meditate. Maybe that’s what you NEED to feel like you are sharing… we are here!

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  9. Widdershins says

    Meditating is a bit like writing … some days it flows and some days, it’s like pulling teeth, via the back of your head! 😀 … you’ll find your rhythm, perhaps not where you expect it or in a way that you expect. 🙂

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  10. Forestwood says

    The discipline is hard to keep up. Once you get past the first three weeks, I think you have a chance to make it a permanent habit. I will check out the app and see how I go.

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