108 Meditations
I just completed 108 consecutive days meditating and wanted to share my top learnings in this journey:
- People think meditating is having a blank mind. But from what I learned meditating is realizing that you got distracted and returning to your focal point or homebase (for example, breathing).
- Each time I return to the focal point is one rep. The more distracted I am, the more repetitions I do. The trick is noticing when you get distracted.
- I learned to meditate through the Calm app, specifically Jeff Warren's 30 Mindfulness for Beginners. After completing that program I went to multiple sessions with a therapist (Quiere Como Vives) that specializes in mindfulness. These days I meditate 25 mins per day with the Insight Timer App.
- Now I have a bit more time. Instead of reacting based on my emotions, I feel that I have one more second to decide how to react.
- It feels like taking Clonazepam. To a much lesser degree, but that's the feeling. It allows you to live one centimeter below the surface.
- It allows me to exercise the muscle of returning to calmness. Whenever I get anxious while meditating (is the timer even working?, would I be able to finish this session?) I remind myself to go back to the present, to breathe. This very much translates to my day to day life.
- It feels like I have more appetite for risk. I'm much more willing to dare and see what happens.
- WIP but helps me realize that thoughts are not the real world. Thoughts are just thoughts, they might describe the experience but are not the experience itself.
I am hooked now, even on the days where it seems I don't have time to meditate I do 10 mins before bed.