How to Fit Daily Meditation Into A Busy Schedule
By Anamika Nair
There are many reasons why someone should try practicing meditation throughout the day. Mainly, daily meditation can help you reduce stress levels and find your inner peace. It’s a fantastic and easy way of calming yourself down and helping you think straight. By meditating a few minutes every day, you can bring clarity to your mind and help you relax more.
The problem is, many people believe they don’t have the time to meditate because of their busy schedule. A busy schedule is often an excuse for a lot of things. It’s the reason we eat badly, the reason we don’t exercise, and now it’s the reason we can’t meditate. Granted, modern life can be very fast-paced, and you’ll see minutes turn to hours as a whole day passes you by in the blink of an eye. However, no one is ever ‘too busy’ to spare a few minutes throughout the day where you can sit still and meditate. Where there’s a will there’s a way, it’s much easier than you might think.
The following article will show you some easy ways that you can fit daily meditation into your busy schedule. Plus, we’ll also look at the benefits this will bring to people of various different lifestyles.
Create a Meditation Schedule
It’s a lot easier to fit your daily meditation in if you schedule it at the start of the day. Before bed each night you should get your phone out and add reminders at certain times to take a minute and meditate. You’ll be notified during the day, and it’s a great way of ensuring you never forget. Plus, you can work your meditation around your busy schedule for that day too. You can look at what’s on your agenda, and figure out when you can and can’t spare a few minutes.
Wake Up Half an Hour Earlier
One of the easiest ways to fit in a solid 30-minute meditation session is to wake up half an hour earlier than planned. This means you have the time to meditate and can start the day off feeling a lot calmer and in the right frame of mind. It’s the perfect way to prepare yourself for another busy day in your life.
The best thing about this idea is that your meditation doesn’t eat into your schedule at all. By the time you’ve finished, it will be the time you usually wake up.
Meditate Before Bed
Another simple way to fit in half an hour’s worth of meditation is to do it before bed. Get ready for bed earlier than usual, and spend 30 minutes sitting peacefully before you hit the hay. Again, it’s a great time to meditate as it relaxes your body and mind. You’ll find yourself having a much better night’s sleep if you go to bed relaxed and with your mind at ease.
Spread Your Meditation over Small Periods
Generally speaking, meditating for at least half an hour per day will make a big difference to your life. But, this doesn’t mean you have to meditate for half an hour straight. What you can do is split up your meditation over smaller periods throughout the day. Meditate for five minutes here, five minutes there, and you’ll soon rack up all the meditation time you need to benefit from it.
There really are no excuses for missing out on daily meditation because of your busy schedule. Even if you genuinely can’t spare a few minutes here and there to meditate throughout the day, you’ll definitely be able to do it in the morning and evening.
The big question is, why should you put in the effort to meditate daily? Below, you will find the main benefits of daily meditation, and how it can affect different lifestyles:
Relieves Stress
Arguably the biggest benefit of meditation is that it helps reduce your stress levels. If you practice it every day, you’ll start to become far more relaxed and stress-free. This is great for people from all walks of life. Students should practice daily meditation during exam periods to relieve them of stress and help them feel more relaxed before sitting for an exam. Business owners are often subjected to high degrees of stress, as are people with very demanding jobs. By meditating, you help undo all the negative effects stress has on your brain, and it will help you be better at your job.
Helps Clear Your Mind
Another benefit of daily meditation is that it can help clear your mind. When you meditate, there’s an emphasis on controlling your breathing and relaxing your mind. This helps you become more mindful and aware of your thoughts. You start to think straight, and it leads to you being in greater control of your reactions. As you can imagine, this is highly beneficial to anyone in the workplace. If you work a busy job where you have lots of things to do, it pays to have a clear mind. If you spend a few minutes clearing your mind and become more aware of your actions, you’ll make better decisions in the workplace.
Enables You to Control Your Emotions
Thirdly, daily meditation helps you control your emotions. By slowing things down and sitting still for a few moments, you can get your emotions under control and avoid any outbursts. This is very beneficial for parents who are likely to have their emotions run ragged by their children throughout the day. By meditating, you can get things under control and avoid losing your cool and shouting at your kids. This is the same for business owners when things go wrong at work, and you want to lose it and shout at everyone. Take some time out, breathe deeply, and gain control of your emotions.
As you can see, meditating benefits you in many ways no matter what life you live. Along with all these benefits, it’s also a great way of just slowing things down and reflecting on all the good things in life. Make sure you use all of the earlier advice to fit daily meditation into your busy schedule.
Anamika Nair is an experienced freelancer with extensive experience in writing texts, blogs, and columns. She studied Neuroscience of Yoga and Meditation from University of Eidenburg and she is also a meditation expert who is skilled to write about vast variety of topics on Meditation.
