Trying to Meditate Regularly? 5 Obstacles that Get in the Way of Your Best Intentions
Do you struggle with finding time to meditate?
Are your daily activities keeping you busy? Are you wondering how you could possibly squeeze in time to meditate too?
We know, of course, that meditation is one of the best ways to reduce our stress levels and foster peace of mind. We also know how we can experience our interconnectedness to all when we meditate and that challenges that we have in life begin to dissolve when we meditate, bringing a deep sense of peace and harmony. We even know that meditation can open the door to experiencing higher states of consciousness.
And yet, sometimes we still struggle with finding the time to meditate, don’t we?!
If we think about it, most of our time during a day is spent with our minds engaged internally in stories about our lives – work, health, family, friends, finances, events, and more. Often we’re not even aware of this.We’re out for a walk and see a rosebush growing in someone’s lawn and it reminds us of the rosebush at our grandparents’ house when we were young. Suddenly we’re remembering the argument between our parents that we overheard during a visit to the house. Our feelings of that situation bubble up again, as they did as a young child in that situation.
Although our mind’s certainly capable of creating positive stories, it has a tendency to pay more attention to negative experiences – which results in stress in our daily lives.
We know meditation’s one of the best tools we can use to release this accumulated stress and foster a peace of mind. And yet it still may be difficult to actually do regularly!
Even if we commit to engaging in regular meditation or another spiritual practice. We still can’t seem to put it into action and DO it. Why is this?
Many obstacles interfere even with the best of our intentions. They distract us and then we once again arrive at the realization we’re not doing what we intended.
We may get annoyed or upset with ourselves. Or feel inadequate, incapable, or that we’ve failed yet again.
Awareness is the key! By understanding some of the main obstacles that interfere with your best intentions to meditate regularly, you can be prepared ahead of time.
You’ll be easier on yourself, less judgmental, knowing that these obstacles are common for all of us. You’ll be able to intercept them earlier so that you can recover and return to your practice more quickly. Supporting you to be successful in following through with your intentions!Here are 5 obstacles that can get in the way of your best intentions to meditate regularly.
1. Stress – When you’re in the middle of stress in your life, meditation may be the furthest thing from your mind. Stress may make you head in the direction of a fight-flight-freeze response that’ll interfere with your ability to access higher levels of awareness in the moment. You’ll need to work to come out of this primitive response through a calming activity such as deep breathing or a walk in nature in order to be able to follow through on your commitment to meditate.
2. Being Tired – When you’re exhausted, your body and mind just need rest. That’s the top priority for your own well being! So, give yourself permission to rest, even if it’s for a short time before you enter your meditation practice.3. Being in Pain – Any kind of pain we have – whether it is physical or emotional – can be overwhelming. Our whole being can become absorbed in the feeling. Once again, meditation can be the furthest thing from our mind. Pain may need to be managed in order for you to be able to be present for meditation, although some wisdom traditions encourage you to enter into being with your pain in order to relieve your suffering. A challenging path, but one you may consider.
4. Not Enough Time – When your days are filled with more activity than the time you have, you feel rushed and stressed. You try to squeeze in more, in the hopes of saving time. You can’t see where you could possibly take time for your spiritual practice; you’re far too busy! Take a closer look at your day and schedule your meditation time first before the rest of your day, if needed.
5. Distractions of our Culture – We’re all familiar with this one in our current times. Yet, with all of our good intentions to do our meditation, we may still be pulled into scrolling through social media on our cellphones or the busyness of the various activities of our children. Of course, those may be worthy activities in your life! You just may want to bring awareness to them. Are they taking over all of the time you may have to care for yourself and meditate? How often do they interfere? Take a closer look.
And when you begin to see that you cannot do so, it is then that you lose heart. That is the point my dear friends – do not lose heart: know that it is not the momentary success that matters, it is working on and on with iron perseverance. R. Steiner
Remember don’t lose heart! Just begin again and persevere, knowing that’s what we all do on our spiritual path – a step at a time.
Check out the many resources available to support you in your spiritual practice in my Free Healing Library here.
