Meditate

Learning to find clarity in the stillness.

Photo by David Alfons on Unsplash

Editor’s note: This is Part 3 of a five-part series, “R-E-M-E-W,” built around five essentials I’ve come to believe are worth making part of everyday life. Each installment explores one of the practices I’m learning to prioritize as I figure out what it means to live well.

Part 1: Read | Part 2: Eat to live | Part 3: Meditate | Part 4: Aug. 24 | Part 5: Aug. 27

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Meditation sounded boring to me when I was younger.

Rigid. Stiff. Almost cultish.

I preferred fast-paced action. Give me something to do, somewhere to go, something to chase. Sitting still and doing nothing sounded like the opposite of progress.

The truth is, my life was a chaotic mess back then.

I didn’t prioritize much outside of work. As a workaholic, I didn’t really know how. I chased things instead: success, promotions, recognition, status, money.

And when I wasn’t working, I gravitated toward distractions that made me feel good. Television. Sports. Music. Games. Dates. Drinks.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of those things. I still enjoy many of them.

The difference now is that I can enjoy them without needing them to help me escape myself.

Back then, I didn’t understand that distinction.

I wasn’t free because my mind wasn’t free.

I was constantly moving, consuming or chasing something. There wasn’t much room left to simply sit with myself.

And none of it was making me a better person.

It took me years to realize I had it all wrong.

I found my way into meditation through “The 5 AM Club.” The book’s “20-20-20 formula” broke the first hour of the day into three 20-minute blocks: movement, reflection and learning.

That second 20 minutes made meditation feel doable.

Twenty minutes. I could handle that.

More importantly, the book helped me understand that meditation didn’t have to look the way I had imagined it. It didn’t require an elaborate setup or a personality shift.

For me, that simply meant stillness, silence, calm.

I’m still mastering the routine.

My meditation practice can happen in the morning, midday or at night. I’m less concerned with making it look perfect than I am with making room for it.

What I’ve come to appreciate is what happens when I give myself that space.

A few quiet minutes of getting lost in thought can be enough. The noise starts to fade, and more has room to surface.

Clarity. Ideas. Motivation.

I’ve found that I thrive on that clarity. It helps guide me while giving me something I didn’t always appreciate enough: peace of mind.

That’s why I’ve started thinking about meditation less as an activity and more as a reset.

I don’t always need to solve a problem. Sometimes I just need to stop adding to the noise long enough to hear myself think.

My new balcony has become a perfect place for that. It’s quiet, calm and serene. Unlike my old stoop, everyone doesn’t stop to chat. I can sit there and simply be.

That doesn’t always mean I’m formally meditating. I might just sit with my thoughts and let my mind wander. I’ve learned that those moments have value, too.

Some of my best ideas have come when I wasn’t trying to have an idea at all.

I feel calmer, too.

That matters a lot to me.

I don’t like being frazzled by the outside world. I need time to collect myself. I need space between what the world is asking of me and how I choose to respond to it.

And I’m learning that space can be created at any point in the day.

Life doesn’t only get noisy in the morning.

My reset might be needed in the middle of the day or late at night. It could be a few minutes on the balcony, a quiet moment in my reading nook or simply putting down my devices, closing my eyes and stepping away from everything for a while.

I’m still figuring out what my meditation practice looks like, and I’m not interested in forcing a rigid routine just to say I have one.

I’m more interested in continuing to find those moments of stillness, whenever and wherever they come.

I like who I am a little more when I do.