How to Make Meditation a Habit
One of my students admitted that he wasn’t meditating regularly. I asked him why. He said he was too tired in the morning and had no time before rushing off to work. I asked him why he was so tired. He said he had trouble sleeping and was often laying awake at night. I asked him what was he thinking about at night.
He blushed and said that he was thinking about a woman he met and wondering how he could find the courage to approach her. I told him there’s a meditation for that. Then he meditated everyday.
You will repeat anything that has meaning for you, and drop things that don’t help. So to form a habit of meditation, you need to feel it’s doing something for you.
We call our school the “Institute for Applied Meditation” because we’ve found that it’s the application that keeps people meditating. If it’s not making a difference in your health, relationships or accomplishments, then why do it? Life is short. But if you can see a real advantage, then you will remain dedicated.
Some methods of meditation are like basic research – they help in many, non-specific ways. But Heart Rhythm Meditation is practical; it has direct physical, emotional and spiritual benefits. See The Promise of Heart Rhythm Meditation to learn its specific results. If any of those results could be helpful to you, then you’ll meditate for those reasons, and you won’t have to beat yourself up to do it.
But you can go beyond a habit …
Once you’ve entered into your heart, you’ll have another reason to meditate: it’s home. You’ll miss it terribly if you don’t do it. Your meditation chair will call to you — “Come back!” Then meditation is not a habit, it’s a commitment to your heart. You don’t do it by will-power; you do it out of love.
Once you’ve found that love of your heart, you will meditate with joy, without fail, and the benefits will come as side-effects.
You’ve been seeking Truth; now Truth is seeking you.
Blessings,
Puran Bair Chancellor, The University of the Heart
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