I’m Meditating Every Day for 80 Days – Here’s What I’m Learning

In today's world, where our minds have been bombarded with digital stimuli (social networks, games, streaming services, etc.) that fill up all our attention space, meditation has become an indispensable practice, being essential to finding a balance between our professional, family, and self-care life.

I have been meditating every day for 80 consecutive days, and taking a 10-minute break to focus on my breathing has helped me a lot in all aspects of my life.

Here is what I am learning from this practice.

To be present

Meditation has taught me to step out of my mind and turn off the autopilot mode to live in the present. This means setting aside yesterday and tomorrow, what is pending and what I have to do next to appreciate the "little" things I have here and now.

Whether it's feeling the smell of coffee, watering the plants, or hearing the sound and smell of rain, with meditation I have learned the importance of being conscious and present in every moment of my life.

Control anxiety

You have probably already heard that meditation is an excellent remedy for some of the most common mental disorders such as depression and generalized anxiety disorder.

Indeed! I have been learning to control my anxiety with meditation since the practice helps me to gain more clarity and peace in situations where I don't know what to do.

Stay focused for longer

One long-term benefit of meditation is an increase in the attention threshold. Spending 10 minutes focused solely on my breathing has been a beneficial exercise for my brain, bringing remarkable improvements in my productivity, after all, attention is like a muscle in our brain, and meditating is the best exercise for it.

Be more rational than emotional

Being aware of the space around me and the situations that occur in it and listening carefully gives me clarity which helps me to have a margin of safety to be able to think before acting. This includes knowing how to say no instead of accepting unexpected requests, knowing how to respond more clearly, and having more security in the words.

Sleep better

Since I started meditating, I have also started sleeping more easily and much better. Emptying my mind of thoughts and worries about the next day has helped me to keep it calmer, thus providing a good night's sleep.

Consistency surpasses everything

One of the things I'm learning since I started this journey of continuous meditation is that consistency beats anything. I have tried several times to keep the practice of meditation with the intention of making it a daily habit, but at the end of a few days, I always ended up giving up because I found it very difficult, even impossible, to keep the habit to the point of becoming something so natural that I could do it daily without effort.

However, this time, I used some tips taken from the book Atomic Habits to make the habit rewarding for my brain to release dopamine and thus want to repeat it, and that made all the difference.

The way I used to make meditation rewarding was by documenting each day of meditation on my Instagram, where I use the story to record the day count.

By the way, this is one of the many good ways to use social media.

Meditation has long-term benefits that, with the passing of time and improvement of the practice, will improve our lives in various aspects, contributing to an increasingly healthy lifestyle.

Tips for making meditation a daily habit

As I said before, I have tried several times to make meditation a daily habit and for some reason, I have failed. After reading Atomic Habits and learning about the 4 stages for creating a habit, I slowly applied them to my daily life until I really achieved my goals.

Here are some tips to make meditation a daily habit:

• Start small (1 to 3 minutes)
• Practice at the same time every day
• Create a dedicated space for meditation
• Celebrate your journey
• Make it enjoyable

I recommend you to use Headspace because this app applies most of the tips mentioned above such as guided meditations from 1 to 3 minutes, you can set the alarm to meditate every day at a specific time and celebrate your journey by winning prizes like a full access link for free for 30 days to share with your friends, making meditation more enjoyable.

These tips apply to any habit you want to add to your daily routine, just have the discipline necessary to stay consistent.