So here we are Jan 3rd already and I'm three for three with my New Year's meditation routine.
i've started off gently with myself - I've only set the timer for 10 minutes of basic seated breath meditation, and then I carry on if i feel like it after the final bell goes, which has meant a total of three 15 minute sessions so far this year.
I do my session after I've got up, had breakfast (although I'm going to put breakfast back to later in the day at some point), did my dicking about on Hive (which is way too long) and tidied the house/ prepped the day (got stuff ready for going out), and done basic ablutions, so I might well have been up and pottering for over 2 hours by the time I sit, which is fine, it works for me!
I used to meditate pretty seriously, for a 'good hour' every morning as advised by my then Zen instructor, yes i EVEN went to formal Zen classes for a year.
But since then, pushing 15 years ago already (FUCK!) I've got out of the habit, and i've been especially slack since moving to Portugal, although the main distraction from meditation has been the crypto wonderland rather than the IRL real world.
But now that i've been here for fifteen month and I'm sort of settled, I'm weening myself off Hive-dicking and I'm formulating a plan for what to do with my land, oh, and i'm committing to learning the language a bit more, I'm feeling like a morning meditation session is something that I actually want to do.
It's been a VERY pleasant start to the New Year...
I wouldn't exactly call my mind settled ATM, but it's not as rampant as I thought it would be when I sit either, and the only 'issues' I've had to deal with arising so far are the anxieties around learning a new language, which is no surprise, none at all.
Just three days in, fifteen minutes a day with no pressure, and I'm already feeling the benefits... calmer, more at ease, a slower pace to the day in general.
It's the later I need more than anything else I think - to slow down... when I'm on the land, when I'm trying to converse with people, when I'm on Hive (and on it less), that alone, that change of pace one gets with meditating is worth the fifteen daily minutes, soon to be much more!
Oh, and it's like riding a bike, once you've learned the art, the art of just sitting there, it's easy to pick it up again - all you have to do is just sit there and endure what comes up and accept that whatever comes up, that's your bag.
Sometimes that's easier said than endured, but so far for 'me' in this new year, it's been an OK start - my 'self' seems OK, ironically.