One minute...that's all

I wanted to write a blog about how to encourage people to try meditation. I ended up Googling all sorts of subjects, but this one point got me thinking.

In one hit that Google produced, it said that generally, people will have around 6000 thoughts a day. In the next hit below on the Google search list it said that we have around 70,000 thoughts per day. There is a big difference there and my thoughts were, ‘well, how can anyone judge what the general number of thoughts are anyway!’

So, I continued in my original search to learn about how to encourage someone to try meditation. If the general person, who could be a sceptic or not, have so many thoughts, then surely there must be a middle ground to reaching people in either direction.

Of course, this came down to the breath.

As I type this, I can hear a collective ‘sigh’ at the mere mention of the word ‘breath’. It nudges me to remember my role as a teacher of meditation, to persist in using this term, even if the recipients are less than receptive. Which brings me back to scepticism.

Why are people sceptic about meditation when it has been proven to be so good for our health? Is it because they think that to meditate, you need to empty your mind of all thoughts? Is it because they think its for hippies who sit on a mountain wearing tie-dyed clothes chanting Om? Is it because they think they don’t have time for that sort of ‘new age mumbo jumbo?’

The solution to my query is to encourage people to - s t o p, b r e a t h e and be m i n d f u l.

Write those thoughts down and attend to them later. Give yourself 1 minute to consciously breathe (yes, just 1 minute!) You deserve it.

Chances are, you’ll be more receptive to the most important thoughts when you calm your mind by consciously breathing and being in the moment.
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B R E A T H E…1, 2, 3…
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What are your thoughts? 😉