Easy Meditations

Many of you write to me commenting that you’ve read the post where I mention the benefits of meditation and you would like to start meditating, but due to a lack of time or consistency, you can't manage to sit down to meditate for fifteen minutes every day. It’s then that I realize how we associate meditation with an image of someone sitting on the floor, cross-legged in a lotus position, repeating mantras, doing breathing exercises, etc. This, indeed, is a form of meditation, but there are many other simple and practical ways to meditate, which I will talk about in this post, and which will also help you gain benefits for your mind and body.

Here are several exercises that you can alternate in your daily routine:

Gratitude Meditation

This is one of my favorites. It involves taking a few minutes (2-3 minutes) in the morning as soon as you wake up to express gratitude for what you are or have, being specific and not generalizing, for example: “I am very grateful for the health of my family, that everyone is well, for my health, for the opportunity that this day gives me to be here, for the opportunity I have in the 10:00 meeting, I am very grateful for having my basic needs met, etc.” Try to be clear and not just grateful for the sake of it. The same goes for 2-3 minutes before going to sleep, expressing gratitude for the good things of the day, for example: “I am very grateful for the fun time I had with this colleague today, for the good grades my child brought home, for the thoughtful gesture my friend showed me, for realizing…”**

Gratitude meditation connects us automatically with the present, helps us focus on the positive aspects of the day, and helps maintain a positive attitude, generating awareness and relativizing. It is a form of meditation because you are putting focus, it elevates your vibration, helps calm the mind, and is also a way of viewing life that is more centered in real life rather than the thoughts that work on autopilot.

Conscious Observation Meditation

This meditation technique is fantastic for moments I call “doing nothing” moments, such as in a doctor’s waiting room, waiting for a bus, etc. We are accustomed to looking at our phones as soon as we feel “free,” but what if you dedicated just a few minutes to an exercise that helps improve your mental clarity, reduce anxiety levels, and improve your attention, etc.?

The meditation involves observing, in a conscious manner, without judgment, what is happening in that moment. Being conscious means that your attention is one hundred percent focused on that moment, your mind describes what is happening without any other thoughts passing through it. Without judgment means, for example, if you’re in the doctor’s waiting room and a man starts speaking loudly, instead of focusing on him and passing judgment, you try to remain aware. The idea is to maintain conscious observation; if there are thoughts or judgments, return to conscious observation.

This type of meditation helps train our minds to focus on conscious thoughts, helps to reduce the weight of judgments and emotions, differentiate between reality and what our thoughts tell us. It helps us be more tolerant and make better decisions. Each of us has mental narratives based on our values and beliefs, when that narrative disappears and only the reality of what you observe remains, we begin to understand many of our patterns and opportunities for growth.

Emotion Acceptance Meditation

This involves taking a few minutes each day to reflect on what you are going through in this stage of your life. If you’re in a good moment, celebrate your achievements, recognitions, positive emotions like joy, pride, fulfillment, etc. Accept, appreciate, and integrate these emotions within yourself. If you’re going through a tough moment, ask yourself how you feel: is it frustration, gloom, fear, anxiety, etc.? Connect with the emotion and feel it.

Being aware of what we feel and accepting our emotions leads us to self-knowledge, to living life more fully and consciously. This type of meditation helps us respond consciously instead of reacting, self-control, and making better decisions.

In conclusion, these meditations have no excuse for not meditating. They are easy, short, you can practice them anywhere, nobody has to know you’re meditating… You can find all the excuses you want not to do them, as well as create all the facilities for them to be part of your daily life and help you grow. As always, it’s up to you, for better or for worse. I invite you to try just one week, and let me know how you feel. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Image by Freepik

Melinda Sánchez Coach

www.melindasanchezcoach.com