What I learned from meditating daily
Change your life, one habit at a time. This month: meditation
Instead of making (and almost immediately breaking) New Year’s resolutions this year, I decided to introduce 12 new habits, month by month.
The first habit seemed to fit the grey introspection of January in the UK: I wanted to meditate for at least 10 minutes, daily.
To help, I read James Clear’s excellent book Atomic Habits, which maps out four steps to creating a new habit and making it an automatic part of your routine. Whatever new habit you want to begin, the steps are the same.
So how did I do? Well, I meditated every day in January! Here’s what I learned.
Make it obvious
I set a firm intention as Clear suggests, specifying time and place: I will meditate in my study for at least 10 minutes every morning.
Scheduling it really helped. I already have a morning routine that I do on autopilot. It wasn’t difficult to slot meditation in after I’d done my yoga stretches, showered and dressed, but before I have my morning coffee. Stacking a new habit in with already established routines makes it much easier to do.
