How To Make Life Changes, In Four Lines

One of the most challenging, and rewarding, habits Jeena Cho has been practicing for over six years is daily meditation.

onDecember 4, 2017 at 6:05 PMDecember 4, 2017 at 2:13 PM

Ed. note: This post is by Jeena Cho, a Legal Mindfulness Strategist. She is the co-author of The Anxious Lawyer (affiliate link), a book written by lawyers for lawyers that makes mindfulness and meditation accessible and approachable. She is the creator of Mindful Pause, a self-paced online program for creating a more sustainable, peaceful, and productive law practice in just six minutes a day. Jeena offers actionable change strategies for reducing stress and anxiety while increasing productivity, joy, and satisfaction through mindfulness.

Change is hard. Forming a new habit (especially those that are good for you) is hard. One of the most challenging, and rewarding, habits I’ve been practicing for over six years is daily meditation.

How I Started Meditating

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Meditation was prescribed as one tool I could use to manage anxiety and stress. I knew from all the research that meditation was good for me. Yet, I could not make it part of my daily routine.

You see, I thought in order to be a “good” meditator, I had to meditate for at least 45 minutes per day. I would do this for several days, feel discouraged, and quit. Weeks would go by, and I would notice the anxiety and stress creeping back into my life, so I would once again, recommit to meditating for 45 minutes.

Then my teacher suggested that I let go of the struggle and meditate for just a few minutes. Every day. I started with just 6 minutes. I paid attention to the joy and delight of carving out a few minutes of silence where I paid attention to my inner world, free from external distractions. I increased slowly, over time.

Even now, after many years, I give myself the permission to sit for just a few minutes — especially on those days where it feels like the last thing I have time to do is meditate.

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