As of today I have been meditating everyday for the last 1228 days. (There’s a little counter off to the right.) What started as a 1,000 day vow has continued, much to my delight.  I have come to consider that meditation is a skill worth cultivating and am of the (not necessarily humble opinion) that everyone should meditate.  During the last few  years I’ve built up a couple of habits that I feel are very useful for anyone looking to try a long, or short term meditation practice.  To whit:

1. Show up – (Sense a theme here?)  Get on your cushion. (Or chair, or bed, or whatever.)  Set yourself a goal for number of days of practice, like 10, or 30, or (if you’re absolutely insane) 1,000 and show up.  Nothing builds a skill unless you do it.
2. Set a timer – Pick an amount of time that seems doable.  When I started it was for 15 minutes a day.  I am now at 32.  Whatever your number is, decide before you start, set a timer and do not rise until you are done.  If you are going hardcore and sitting for more than 45 minutes at a shot it’s probably good to stand and do walking meditation for 15 minutes before getting back in your posture. Regardless once you have a set time, stick with it.  Nothing pays like commitment.
3. Cut yourself some slack – Meditation does not produce quick results other than some calm, quiet time and reduction in stress.  Don’t try to force anything with meditation.  Keep focused, but in a non-blaming way.  You will falter. That is normal.  Noticing that you faltered is a vast improvement over our normal way of proceeding.  Take the time to take some time with it.  Meditation offers great benefits, but not overnight.
4. Love your monkey – One of the first stumbling blocks of most meditation practitioners is called “monkey mind” in the Zen tradition.  This is the chattering, scampering, whirling, raging little fellow trickster in all of us.  Once you slow down and actually allow awareness to sink inside you will be amazed, or appalled, or likely both at how the mind is not remotely close to quiet..  Get used to it.  That is precisely what you are meditating to learn, how your monkey works, its patterns and proclivities.  Don’t get frustrated at how active the little sucker is.  The monkey has had years, decades, of being ignored to build up steam.  It will take a while for it to calm down.  Stick with it and you may be pleasantly surprised at what a steadfast companion the monkey can become.  On good days the little rascal is even helpful.
5. Take notes – Whether you journal, or blog, or compose sonnets – do what every good scientist does and take notes on your experiment and experience. Don’t rely on memory to track your progress. That’ s where the monkey plays! Sharing experiences with a friend, instructor, or web-community is another good resource. You don’ t have to take notes on every session. Get into the habit of writing down your insights every once in a while. This will help forge the habit so when any real big insights come your way you know what to do with them. Tracking your progress in any new endeavor is a good idea, and meditation is no exception. How else will you know how far you’ve come?

You can check out my meditation tag in the column to the right for more posts on this subject, and in particular my handy-dandy Meditation Instructions, Simple Style.

PS – Thanks to Ariel at Rodger’s Coffee & Tea for inspiring me to write this post.  Good coffee!