Tag Archives: Meditation
1,000 Days
I started keeping track of consecutive days on the (meditation) cushion on December 4, 2014. As of today, May 31, 2019, I’ve missed just two of the last 1,638 days. Today is the 1,000th consecutive day on the cushion. The only day that really counts, of course, is today. But I’ve found that logging my meditation practice helps me be consistent, something I do every day. And I can’t think of anything else I’ve done every day for 1,000 days.
I look forward to my daily meditation. I average 45 minutes a day but time really seems to stand still. One of my favorite things about the practice.
800 Days
Yesterday was the 800th consecutive day on the cushion. I started meditating ten years ago but didn’t begin keeping a log of my daily practice until 2014. I’ve only missed two days in those four years. In all my reading about meditation there is general agreement it should be a daily practice. I sit for 30-45 minutes.
700 Days
I started meditating in 2008 but didn’t make it a regular (daily) part of my life until November 30, 2014. At least that is the date I started keeping track. Since then — as noted here previously — I have missed just two days, for a total of 1,343 days on the cushion. Today’s practice was 700 days without missing.
I sit for either 30 minutes or 45 minutes depending on what’s going on. I am a firm believer in making meditation a daily part of one’s life, if only 10 minutes.
I hope to share “1,000 Days” with you next year.
“Meditation is not about doing anything”
“Meditation is not about doing anything. It is simply paying attention.”
Not counting basic hygiene (brushing my teeth, etc), the only thing I do every day is meditate. I sit for 30 minutes, sometimes longer. Every day for the last 500 days. I keep track but I’m not sure that’s good idea. Too easy to get fixated on the streak, keeping the string going.
I’ve missed twice in the last 1,000+ days. Once when I was sick and again when out of town attending a high school reunion (#50). I’m not sure why I keep track of my practice. Maybe it’s for the same reason prisoners make marks on their cell walls (do they still do that?). They’re afraid they’ll forget how long the’ve been in prison? I’d rather think I keep track because it gives me a little added encouragement to sit, although I really don’t think I need that anymore. My daily meditation is the best half hour of my day. But why?
Steve Hagen says meditation is useless. The only reason to meditate is to mediate. Which sounds like something only those who meditate would say or understand. I’m sure when I started (10 years ago?) it was for stress management or relaxation or something but somewhere along the way it became an end in itself.
I find it simultaneously the simplest thing in the world and the most difficult. I’m sitting on a cushion on the floor, focused on my breath. What could be easier? And within seconds my mind has jumped to some random thought… I gently bring my awareness back to my breathing… and the cycle repeats, endlessly. Why would anyone invest half an hour every day doing this? Again, Steve Hagen: “At the heart of meditation is the intention to be awake.”
Meditation Now or Never (PDF of favorite excerpts)