Week 2: Exploring Meditation
Welcome to week 2 of the Love Yourself Challenge. This week includes a 5-min meditation as a ‘self care task.’ Whether you practice already, or are new to meditation, it never hurts to be reminded of all it’s wonderful benefits!
Incorporating a meditation practice into your day can be one of the most beneficial things you can do for your mental and physical well-being! Numerous studies have proven the benefits of meditation, including decreased stress, improved concentration, lower blood pressure, and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, just to name a few. Meditation also allows you to tap into some high vibrational feelings which will help attract more positivity and happiness into your life.
We often hear a-lot of people say, “I don’t have time to meditate”, and trust us we’ve been there too. The good news is that you truly only need 5 minutes, to sit, breathe and slow down.
Let’s take the example from Steven Covey’s 7 habits of highly effective people, habit 7 is Sharpen the Saw. For Covey, Sharpening the Saw is about taking the time to renew and refresh the four dimensions of our natures — physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional — so that we’re more effective in our daily life.
Did you ever hear this story growing up?
A woodcutter strained to saw down a tree. A young man who was watching asked “What are you doing?”
“Are you blind?” the woodcutter replied. “I’m cutting down this tree.”
The young man was unabashed. “You look exhausted! Take a break. Sharpen your saw.”
The woodcutter explained to the young man that he had been sawing for hours and did not have time to take a break.
The young man pushed back… “If you sharpen the saw, you would cut down the tree much faster.”
The woodcutter said “I don’t have time to sharpen the saw. Don’t you see I’m too busy?”
Like the guy trying to cut a tree with a dull saw, you might think you don’t have time to take care of yourself. But the reality is you don’t have time NOT to take care of yourself.
Although this weeks task is a morning meditation, meditation can be done at any time of the day (we prefer finding some time to meditate first thing in the morning as it sets us in the right mind frame for the chaos of the day ahead).
If you are new to meditation, there are some really great apps that offer guided meditations without having to pay a subscription or fee (we love Insight Timer and Calm). You can download them on your phone, and all you have to do, is show up!
Here are two great morning meditations we recommend for this week:
We hope this week brings some stillness and calm. Let us know how you get on!
