Why you aren’t doing your mindfulness practice (& what you can do about it)

(4:24) Why don’t we eat more leafy greens, exercise more or floss more often? We know it’s good for us and we just don’t do it!

Put simply, our motivations have to overcome our resistances… Our reasons to do it have to outweigh our reasons not to do it!

Simple enough. Let’s look at our resistances, our blocks and how we can work to overcome them.

First, you might be resisting what you think will happen as a result of meditating. If you’re meditating to reduce stress, you might have an unconscious belief that you need stress to stay sharp and efficient. You might think that you will lose your edge if your stress level goes down. Ask yourself, “What will I lose if I meditate?” Then do some research and find out if your beliefs are true. What have other meditators experienced? What have the scientific studies found?

Second, you might be resisting actually doing the act of meditating itself. You might feel it’s too boring to do, takes too long to fit into your busy schedule, etc. There are lots of ways to address these kinds of issues including funding a practice that interests you and practicing for a shorter time. You can also have some fun setting some short-term goals for yourself and growing your sense of motivation and accomplishment that way.

See where your main resistances fall, unconscious beliefs about negative end results or issues with the logistics of your practice. Work with your resistances and overcome them by doing some research, adjusting your practice or creating motivational short term goals.

Enjoy motivating yourself!

How to Make Motivating Mindfulness Goals

(2:05) Most of us thrive when we have challenges to accomplish. Reaching our mindfulness goals is rewarding, not only because they encourage us to practice, also because we feel good about ourselves and it’s a great excuse to gift ourselves with something fun like our favorite desert or a new book.

How to make good goals?
First, make sure your goal is achievable with just a bit of stretch… Enough that it challenges you to do do your best and not so much that it is out of your reach. I suggest stretching into your “good day” practices… “On a good day I meditate for 5 minutes.” and challenging yourself to practice for 5 minutes until that becomes your new normal.

Second, track your progress on a calendar to see how well you’re accomplishing your goals & so you can begin to see patterns over time. “Every Monday I only did 4. Ah! That’s the day that I have to organize my lunches for the week… I wonder if I can make that easier so I feel I can do the whole 5 min?”

Third, decide on an end date, so you know when you’ve accomplished your goal! Then reward yourself when you get there!

Enjoy goal setting and accomplishing your them!
Happy practicing.