As I begin the practice of meditation, I want it to become a habit but I often overcomplicate new things and can’t sustain them after a few days. What advice do you have for me to keep it simple until the habit takes hold?
There are a number of things you can do to make it easier to make meditation a habit. Here are a few you could try.
- Practicing regularly with others makes it much easier to get into the habit. This can be with an online group, but in person is usually even better.
- A good meditation app will allow you to set a reminder. I co-created an app you can try: www.BlissTimer.com
- Start with a small, easy to achieve goal. e.g. 5 minutes of meditation once a day. Do it first thing in the morning, before breakfast. Don’t start aiming for longer sittings or more frequent practice until you’ve been able to meditate for 5 minutes every day for a week. Then you might try increasing the time, or adding a second session.
- A meditation buddy. If you have a friend who wants to establish the same habit, you might become accountability partners and remind one another.
- Keep a record of your practice, and if you succeed in a 7 day streak, reward yourself.
- An excellent book on habit formation is Atomic Habits by James Clear. Very practical and doesn’t depend on you have great willpower.
- Find a meditation coach or teacher.