‘I don’t have time to meditate.’
It’s something I hear a lot.
Perhaps you say it yourself!
Or maybe you say ‘I don’t have time’ for the other activities you’d like to do, such as yoga or dancing or something that you know will benefit you.
Not having enough time for these kinds of soul nourishing activities is super common in the world we live in.
This is because we live in a world that values being ‘busy’.
People will ask: ‘Keeping busy?’ as if that’s something to be applauded.
It’s ingrained in our culture to fill every tiny moment of our existence with something.
And it leads us to think ‘If I’m not busy – if I’m not doing something – then I mustn’t be very successful.’
So we make ourselves busy, and busier still.
But being busy comes with one very common side-effect; stress.
Time is one of the biggest stressors in people’s lives (that, and money).
And so we experience stress, as a result of being too busy – packing our lives tight to the brim with ‘stuff’ – and we get told in order to combat the stress, we should meditate.
But meditating takes time.
Time we think we don’t have, because we’re so busy doing everything else.
‘I don’t have time to meditate’ you might say to your therapist, your doctor, your friends, yourself.
People will argue quite strongly that they don’t have time, presenting a solid case for why there’s no time for meditation.
And as a result, they keep getting busier, getting more stressed.
‘I don’t have time’ really has become society’s new catch-phrase.
The more we repeat it, the more it sinks into our subconscious, so it appears that ‘not having enough time’ is a fact (rather than a belief).
But can I let you in on a little secret?
As much as people may think that ‘time’ is the problem, this is rarely the case.
In fact, in my experience, ‘time’ is never the issue.
The truth is, there is an underlying issue.
And that underlying issue is that, on a deeper level:
You don’t value yourself.
You don’t value yourself, and so you don’t value meditation.
For meditation is an invitation to sit with yourself, get to know yourself, and as a result, heal yourself.
Meditating could be likened to ‘dating’ oneself.
But if you don’t value yourself, then you’re not going to want to spend time with yourself.
And in meditation, that’s what we’re doing.
We’re spending time with ourself!
You might say ‘I don’t have time to meditate,’ but this is simply a cover, or an excuse to avoid meditation.
And essentially, avoid yourself.
What I’m saying, is that if you’ve been subconsciously programmed to believe that you don’t deserve to experience the peace and love within, then you’ll always keep yourself too busy to meditate.
Too busy to experience the love and peace within.
You might say, well after my exams I’ll have time, or once I finish this project at work I’ll have time, or once my kids go to school I’ll have time.
But it doesn’t work that way.
If you have underlying beliefs, such as ‘I don’t value myself’ or ‘I’m not worthy’, then once that thing finishes, something else will pop up that requires your attention; that keeps you too busy to meditate.
So in that respect it’s like you’re a caged hamster on a wheel.
The busyness, the suffering; it never ends.
Until of course, you decide to get off the wheel and change what you’re doing.
In order to get a different result, you need to do something different.
You need to… well… meditate!!!
And that’s why I created The Way of Self-Love; so that you have a really yummy practice that you look forward to.
A practice that helps you learn how to move through the ‘busy’ so you can tap into an easeful way of life.
Easeful AND productive way of life… where you still have time to meditate!
I say ‘productive’ because if you look at the most successful people, people like Oprah; they get a lot done.
How do the do it?
They make time for meditation.
Why?
Because they know meditation is what helps them be super productive and super effective.
As actor Hugh Jackman says, meditation helps you get more done, and likens meditation to a glass of water.
‘When you first pour it, it’s cloudy. When you’re stressed, that’s what your mind is like. It’s kinda cloudy. After I meditate all that sinks to the bottom and the water is clear. And the energy is finer. And the decisions you make are more authentic. And I think you’re more economical with your energy, with time, in everything. And you’re more able to listen to people.’
Yep, meditation helps you become better at managing your time.
You quite literally get more time, from taking time to meditate.
How is this possible?
As Jerry Seinfeld says:
‘You have a cell phone. Meditation is like someone giving you the charger.’
Meditation is quite literally like putting yourself on charge!
Remember how I explained that being busy creates stress?
Well, stress stops us from being on top of our game.
When we’re stressed, our mind loses its razor-sharp clarity, our creativity is impaired and we experience fatigue…
As a result, we make mistakes, projects take longer to complete, and we end up working a whole lot longer and harder than we need to.
Put simply:
If you’re stressed or fatigued then you’re not operating at your optimum.
The body needs to be recharged so it works at its optimum.
Once our energy begins to run low, our productivity diminishes, we become a little cranky and often feel more uptight.
Not the ideal environment for getting things done efficiently.
When you meditate daily, you have full charge – full bars – on the mobile that is your body.
The truth of the matter is, meditation gives you more time by making your mind calmer and more focused.
Meditation plugs you into your creative and productive energies.
It gives you perspective!
And therefore you’re less likely to make a mistake or waste time.
You get things done faster with greater precision and so you end up having more time.
Studies have shown that most people spend 20% of their time doing the things that actually get results, and 80% of the time doing things they ‘think’ will get results, but don’t ever get up off the ground.
This is why after I had my son, I was able to work for just 3 hours a day for 2 years, and financially support my family in not only living, but moving to the other side of the world, and continuing to have a joyful life.
(And that 3 hours a day included my personal yoga and meditation practice!)
OK… so let’s look at the math!
You take 20-minute a day to meditate and you get triple that (or more) because you’re now operating in a more easeful, productive manner.
Meditation really is the best time management skill we can have!
So let’s recap…
We make time for the things we value.
In order to value meditation, you need to value yourself.
The irony is, in order to value yourself, you need to meditate more!
And to do that, you need to consciously shift your focus, change your priorities, and start to make time for the things that make you feel good, as opposed to the things that drain you.
You need to be willing to try something radically different to what you know.
And that requires going against your subconscious programming – your habitual patterns – so you can experience the love within.
Because hey, when you meditate the way I teach you to meditate, that is the whole purpose of your meditation; to experience the love within.
To be love.
Are you ready?
Are you ready to learn how to meditate in a really loving way, and as a result, learn how to value yourself?
If so, I invite you to join me in The Way of Self-Love.
This course does more than teach you meditation skills…
You’ll learn how to tap into your inner genius so you have creativity and inner guidance on tap.
And to help you overcome the ‘I don’t have time to meditate’ problem, I include a comprehensive audio lesson – with specific exercises – to help you unravel the ‘I don’t have time’ issue, so you can easily sneak meditation into your life.
If there is nothing else you take from this blog know this:
Time is NOT the issue.
The issue is that you’re not valuing yourself enough to meditate.
And learning to love yourself involves learning to value yourself.