Meet yourself with kindness and compassion. Whisper softly to yourself, “Begin again, and start small.”
One of the things I’ve heard most frequently during the past few months is, “I haven’t been practicing meditation. I got off track.” Stressful times and changes in routine can easily pull us out of our mindfulness practice and self-care routines. I offer meditation guidance for helping folks to get back on track to restart their practice.
The mind tends to see things in extremes. If you had been practicing 20 minute a day, and then you haven’t practiced in two months, the mind will believe that you have to jump back in to your previous 20 minutes per day practice, and in the midst of stressful times, it will believe that this feels impossible. This will likely leave you feeling overwhelmed and avoiding returning to any form of practice.
There’s another way to approach this. My meditation guidance is that when you realize you’ve veered away from your mindfulness practice or other healthy routines, try to approach this awareness with mindfulness (awareness with kindness and curiosity). Make effort to begin again, and start small. Bring the attention to the breath in this moment, and practice awareness of breathing for 30 seconds. And then try practicing for 30 more seconds several more times throughout the day.
You might consider asking yourself what sort of practice feels attainable this week. 30 seconds per day? Two minutes per day? Start there, and keep expanding the duration until it feels right. It’s important, especially during stressful times, to continue to practice in a way that supports your wellbeing rather than pushing yourself to do what you think you should do and having that result in increased stress. Listen to yourself. Trust yourself.
Be well,
Jen