Meditation For People Who Can’t Sit Still
I’m a fair representation of people who can’t sit still.
I’ve always had an overactive imagination, fingers that relentlessly tap desks, and a mind that’s always thinking.
One of my earliest memories is my Grandma looking down at six-year-old Rory and demanding to know, “Doesn’t your brain ever just switch off?”
“No, Grandma,” I’d say, then eat another custard cream and continue to pitch my movie idea.
Even as I grew to become a full-sized person, my mind never did switch off. Maybe this made me destined to sit in writers’ rooms and spew up wondrous ideas for games, sketches, and TV formats — it certainly made me impossible to date.*
Here’s the issue with being a person who can’t sit still. Sometimes your mind does deserve a break. It does need to switch off. You do need to calm down, and you want to.
When it all becomes a little too much, I wish I could meditate. But I can’t. I can’t sit still.
We’ve all heard someone say they tried to meditate but couldn’t. It seems to be a universal issue. Usually, the first time someone tries to meditate they’re hoping for immediate relief. But meditation takes time, dedication, practice, and apparently burning a stick of incense helps too.
Most people who can meditate feel it necessary to pay for an app to keep them going at it. I discovered earlier this year that I spent hundreds of pounds subscribed to a meditation app that I only ever used for a total of 86 minutes.
I stopped paying for meditation apps.
I found an alternative that’s proven by science to:
- Enhance our ability to cope with anxiety.
- Improve our memory and ability to problem-solve.
- Bring you closer to others.
Sounding off is sort of like keeping a vocal journal. It’s like sending voice notes to your future self. You can hold yourself accountable, release your thoughts. You can rant, you can laugh, you can cry.
Don’t sit there and do nothing. Do the opposite.
Sound Off is the Antidote to Meditation.
We’re building a mindfulness app which helps you to make mindful voice notes for yourself. We’ll encourage, inspire, and teach you how to sound off in the best way to meet your goals.
As you sound off, and you talk out all the things on your mind — even those things you’ve been putting off thinking about, your mind becomes clear. You get to process thoughts, recognize your feelings, and take time at the end of your day to reflect, just for you.
Please give it a go. Tonight, open your voice memos app and sound off about your day. You can talk about anything you like, whatever comes to mind. Keep going ’til you run out of things to say. You’ll feel the benefits immediately. Discuss why you want to sound off, what you’d like to achieve, and how you hope starting to sound off will help.
Good luck.
*If you enjoyed this post, you can find me on Hinge.
Have you ever tried meditation? Did it work?
Let me know in the comments.
We’re building a voice journal app, follow us: co-founders Elly, Paavan, & Rory post on the Sound Off publication every week.
