Do you want to meditate but never seem to be able to find the time? Don’t give up. There are many benefits of meditating that are worth pursuing, even if you have to use your time popcorn — those small random free moments (such as waiting in line) that pop up randomly throughout the day and make us instinctively reach for a distraction.
There are so many reasons to meditate. The workplace has become a breeding ground for an epidemic of SADness (stress, anxiety and depression): three afflictions that meditation can ease. Smartphones have shrunk our attention spans to sub-goldfish levels and meditation can help us focus at least as well as an amphibian. And, meditation can make pain feel less painful, help us sleep better, control impulsive reactions and improve our relationships. Most of all, meditation helps us live our lives as they’re happening, not as a background music to thoughts of the past and imaginings of the future.
Most of all, meditation helps us live our lives as they’re happening, not as a background music to thoughts of the past and imaginings of the future.
Here are five easy yet powerful meditative moments that anyone, no matter how busy, can fit into their day.
Stoplight = Breathe + Delight
Do you ever feel the urge to reach for your phone at a stoplight to scan your email? Where I live, one of the toughest jurisdictions for distracted driving in the world, even touching your phone to turn off an alarm while your car is on the road can result in a fine of up to $1,000 for a first-time offence and a three-day driving suspension and demerit points. Rather than reach for your phone, take a deep breath and scan your environment for something pleasing to look at, or double-up on the meditative impact by combining it with the next meditative moment…
The Happiness Wish
This simple practice has resulted in countless cases of “my best day at work in years.” Whenever you encounter someone, say to yourself “I want this person to be happy.” Not only will you short-circuit a kneejerk reaction to view others with a critical mind, but with each person you encounter, you’ll be cultivating an aura of kindness that, if they’re attentive, they’ll be able to sense. If you can wish happiness for everyone you see in a day, you will get the same mood-elevating benefits as a formal meditation session in compassion where you imagine a wider and wider circle of humanity and wish them all well. Compassion meditation always begins with yourself, so while you’re wishing happiness for others, be sure to take a moment to wish for your own happiness.
Compassion meditation always begins with yourself, so while you’re wishing happiness for others, be sure to take a moment to wish for your own happiness.
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Do you remember tasting anything today, or did you scarf down your food and drink while you were busy doing something else? Food is a pleasure that deserves to be savored. You’re eating anyway, so why not take a moment to smell, taste and feel the sensations that your food gives you. Savoring your food counts as meditation.
What’s Happening in Your Left Hand?
“He lived at a little distance from his body” began James Joyce’s “A Painful Case,” the tragic story of Mr. Duffy, a man who never paid attention to the world around and within him. Many of us are Mr. Duffys who would prefer to be all orderly minds without nuisance bodies that repeatedly impose their needs on us and interrupt our productivity. But when we cut ourselves off from our bodies, we cut ourselves off from what Joyce called “life’s feast,” so reconnect with your body now and sporadically throughout the day. What’s happening with your left hand? It’s not an insignificant question. To begin to inhabit the body takes you out of inhabiting only the mind. If you can feel your left hand, you can also start inhabiting other parts of the body. Feel the aliveness in your left hand, and if you have time, travel up your arm and around your shoulders down to your right hand. You may discover that your body is a welcoming place of mental rest.
Just Breathe
The simplest and most portable tip, “just breathe” is a meditation that you can do anywhere, anytime. Take a deep breath into your belly, and let your attention follow your breath as you feel your belly rise and fall as you breathe out. It only takes a few breaths to signal your body to relax, recharge and energize.
Try one of these meditative moments, notice how it makes you feel, and soon you’ll be seeking out opportunities for more meditative moments that sown together over the course of a day will have a positive effect on your wellbeing. And if you ever decide that you have five minutes or more to sit quietly and just breathe, your meditative moment will have become the bridge to building a meditative habit.
Photo by Natalia Figueredo.
Lynne Everatt is a recovering MBA, LinkedIn Top Voice in management and culture, and nominee for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for her first book, E-mails from the Edge, a novel with the theme of workplace mental health. She is a former careers columnist for Canada’s largest newspaper, The Globe and Mail. An ardent advocate for mental health through physical fitness, Lynne is a certified personal trainer who has completed two sweaty half-marathons and a marathon six minutes and twenty-three seconds of stand-up at the Absolute Comedy Club. She served for three years as President of the Board of Directors of the women’s shelter Interim Place where she met and became friends with co-author Addie Greco-Sanchez of The 5-Minute Recharge. Connect with Lynne on LinkedIn and Twitter. Together, Lynne and Addie want to make the world a mentally healthier place through their friendship. To learn more please visit, www.5minrecharge.com.
