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Today I’m sharing my top tips for keeping your habit going, beyond these 7 days.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Today we’re covering the final instalment of How To Meditate, Made Easy ~ looking at how create your own personal action plan for keeping the habit going – plus even more insider secrets to make it easy.
I’d like to dive straight in with the number one thing you need to be doing, if you want to keep your meditation habit going, long-term:
#1: The Secret Key To Staying Motivated
When we’re learning a new skill or a habit it’s easy to keep ourselves motivated, once we’ve started to experience results.
So all you need to do is to make sure you’re noticing them!
Here are some ideas you could try out today.
Make sure you’re actually open to seeing the results you’re getting. Often they’re there in front of us, but we don’t spot them, because we’re expecting something else or we’re too busy with ‘life’.
So maybe it’s worth taking a few moments today to think about how taking part in How To Meditate, Made Easy has helped to change your life, so far.
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Quick Exercise:
- What impact have the last 4 weeks had for you?
- How have your emotions been going?
- How have you been feeling physically?
- Are you noticing it’s easier to carve out your daily ten minutes to meditate?
- What do you notice, if you miss your meditation?
How about sharing your answers?
Allow yourself to notice the progress you’re making! And perhaps create a monthly review strategy, to work through the exercises in today’s email, revisiting and giving yourself credit for the progress you’re making?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][image_with_animation image_url=”11958″ animation=”Fade In” img_link_target=”_blank” img_link=”https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152059161266238″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]
#2: Start Small And Build Gently
What do I mean by that? Well, it’s a tendency in our over-crowded modern lives to go for the end result, even if we haven’t yet laid the foundations (I know! I’ve been there!)
But that’s not sustainable. By starting small and building up your progress (exercising your ‘meditation muscle’) a bit at a time, you’ll be laying firm foundations for a life-long habit.
Also, go gently with yourself. Meditating each day for 10 minutes is worth so much more to your mind, body and soul that once a week for an hour or once a year for a week’s retreat. Don’t force this. Don’t push it. Just let it ‘be’ and grow in whichever way is best for you.
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- Don’t aim too high.
Keep it realistic and don’t make too big a deal of it if you miss a day (or three!). Learn from it and move on. Don’t use it as yet another excuse to beat yourself up 😉 . - Start small and build on it.
To be honest, ten minutes a day really isn’t so much to ask of yourself. If someone told you to meditate for an hour, twice a day, that would be unrealistic for most of us, without making dramatic lifestyle changes. But to find ten minutes, which is enough to start making a difference, is absolutely possible.
Yes, there may come a time when you want to do more than ten minutes – but there’s no rush. - Buddy up
Maybe you’d like to have a meditation buddy, a friend that you’re meditating with?
They can hold you accountable. You could text or phone or message each other when you’ve done your daily meditation and share the progress that you’re making.
If you’d like to find someone, here’s a thread where we’re offering each other the chance to buddy up. - Remember you can concentrate.
If you’re finding it hard to concentrate, don’t give up. Concentration is a skill that we need to relearn. Yet concentrating is something that comes naturally to us: just look at a young child when they get absorbed in a task. You can call their name, over and over, but they can’t hear you, because they are lost in their task.
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Quick Exercise:
Think about the times in the past where you were changing something and you hit what we call ‘the wall’, and yet you kept going. When you got to the other side, you realised you had made a leap in your skill level.
- How did you feel afterwards?
- How did you keep yourself motivated?
- What worked for you?
- What didn’t?
- If you could imagine a future you that has made it through the next few months and years, what advice would you give to the ‘you’ back in the ‘here and now’?
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You did it then, you can do it now! The key is to keep going; to keep choosing.
Staying motivated is about allowing yourself to see the results you’re getting and to keep gently, consistently going with the routine of your daily ten minutes (or more!) of meditation.
I’m curious: which results have you seen so far, over the past seven days? How often have you been able to meditate? How have the exercises in the emails helped you? Here’s where we’re talking about this.
And, above all, what could you do, today, to help remind you to meditate and to help you keep yourself motivated?
Based on the exercises we have done today, what’s your personal action plan?
Here’s where to share – accountability is key – and where to get inspiration from how others are doing it!
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]I really hope you have enjoyed the past seven days and that the course has helped you. If your heart is calling you to dive in more deeply, here’s where you can find out more about how to change your life with meditation.
I know we have finished our seven days, but I’ll be back tomorrow with a round-up of some great resources and ideas for how we could keep working together, if that’s what your heart is calling you to do.
I hope you enjoy your meditation today! And thank you for allowing me to share this journey with you.
With love, Namaste,
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]P.S. If you’re serious about creating a long-term, life-changing, sustainable meditation habit and want to dive in more deeply, then you’ll love my 10 week meditation programme.
In it, we cover the whole ‘how to find the time’ challenge in much more detail. We look at how to bust your meditation excuses, as well as how to spot those secret time-thief interruptions that get in the way, how to handle the distractions on your ‘to do’ list, how to turn every-day activities into a chance to practice meditation and even how to stop other people from stealing your meditation time.
I am running an amazing special offer for everyone who subscribes by 1st February – and it won’t be repeated any time soon. So if your heart is calling you to dive in, check it out: How To Meditate (And Change Your Life). It would be an honour to continue this journey with you. xx Clare [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][image_with_animation image_url=”12162″ animation=”Fade In” img_link_target=”_self” img_link=”https://www.clarejosa.com/how-to-meditate”][/vc_column][/vc_row]