The power of 10 Minutes
After reading a bunch of books where some of the most accomplished people reference meditation as the cornerstone to their ability to succeed, I decided to give it a try. Last week I downloaded the Headspace App and did a 10 day - ten minute meditation challenge. I call it a challenge because it is near impossible for me to find a quite place to experince meditative quality time. One of the things I really love about this app is how it teaches you to quite your mind in the midst of chaos. I was always under the impression it had to be super quite and you had alone to achieve this type of relaxation and mindfulness.
The 10-day challenge I did was for beginners, which I recommend because you really learn the foundations of meditation. I set an alarm in the app for 8:20am which is around the time I get back from dropping off the kids at school. We have a sunporch at our home where traditionally the kids don't frequent. This room also has a ton of sun light which gives it lots of positive energy and I have a 72% chance of not being bothered or found for 10-minutes. After turning my phone on silent, I get quiet and start the mediation for that day. There are a couple great quotes to get your mind in the right place, and some days a quick animation video which really helps. The 10-minutes go by so fast, I am always so surprised I was able to get quite and have such a meaningful meditation.
Meditation has been shown to promote subtle improvements in focus, attention and the ability to ignore distractions.
Couple cool things that I discovered on the app are the many different categories they have for you and your kids. From managing anxiety, stress, sleep to self-esteem, relationships and happiness. The categories are broken down into 6 areas: foundation, health, brave, happiness, work & performance, students and sports. We did the kids category for appreciation and they loved it. Each category has really short and informative animations so you have a basic understanding of the mind, the techniques and what you are working on. (my kids love these little videos).
If you are like me, super busy with a racing mind and a constant underlying feeling of stress, headspace might be the perfect thing for you. Since doing my 10-day challenge I have absolutely felt more calm and quite in my mind throughout the day. When everyday stress creeps up or I find my mind chasing thoughts about things I can't change, I now have the tools to bring my mind back to more powerful thoughts. Spending a couple minutes with headspace in the morning and before bed to reflect on the day and quite the mind has helped me push further in my career, be more patient with my kids and let go of stress.
Happiness awaits at headspace.com :)
