Episode 21: How To Start Meditating When You Don't Think It's For You

Don't think you'll ever be the type of person who meditates? I get that, because that was 100% me. But here's the thing: If you don't think meditating is for you because your mind is always too busy, that's exactly WHY you need to start meditating. Once you finally make it a habit, it will change your life. In this episode, I share how I finally made my type-A, go-go-go self sit down and meditate consistently and the impact it has had on my life.

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Music: “Play Thing” by Ketsa
From Free Music Archive

Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, mental health, or professional advice. I am a certified health and life coach, not a licensed medical or mental health professional. Please consult with a healthcare provider before making any changes to your physical or mental health routines. If you are experiencing a crisis, seek help from a qualified professional or contact emergency services.

Connect with me on your favorite social media channel: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn! 

To learn more about my approach and the programs and free resources available to support you, visit my website: www.lifeboost.today

I love to hear from you. You can always reach me at amelia@lifeboost.today.

Transcript

0:01

Hey life booster. This is Dr. Amelia health coach and veterinarian here to help you ditch yo-yo dieting people pleasing and perfectionism by breaking the norm and living a life that energizes you from within today. We're going to talk about meditating because there are some things that we need to clear up about this topic. Okay. Now, if you just heard me say meditating and you're like, Nope, not for. My brain is like way too active. I am way too type a no way. Am I interested in meditating? Just hang tight. Okay. Because I am talking to you because I was that person for a very, very long time. Like my mind is very busy as well as my body. I don't like to stay. Still I thrive on productivity and constantly doing that makes me feel good. I like the high that I get from like checking something off my to-do list. Um, like getting like achieving something like that is what motivates me. And so anytime. Even someone suggested that I do things to like, slow down, like yoga or meditating. I wasn't really interested, like, you know, if it wasn't burning calories or accomplishing something, I didn't really see the value in it. However, I also am very interested in. All things, health related and feeling as good as possible as I, that I can in my body. And so slowly, a couple of years ago, maybe even three years ago at this point, um, time flies, huh? I, it started being difficult to ignore all of the health benefits of meditating. Like meditating is great for stress, anxiety, better sleep for just overall longevity and focus, um, and really physically in your body, even helping, with blood pressure and, you know, stress impacts everything. So I kept hearing about it and hearing about how it was changing people's lives. And so there was a part of me that was like curious. Um, and I, I knew that I was really stressed out. And so I was like, this is probably something that I could really benefit from, even though I don't know if it's for me. So I decided to. Try it. And, um, I think originally I, uh, I got Headspace the app and that's an awesome app because it makes meditating feel pretty approachable in that, like, there are these little. Um, guided meditations that help to introduce you to meditating and different ways of doing that. And that felt more doable than like me just like sitting down and meditating. I felt like I definitely needed guidance. Um, however that guidance alone was not enough. So I would be like, I would sit down and be like, okay, for. Sorry, choking for like five minutes. I'm going to sit down and meditate. And just the whole time, like, even before I started, I was just like, mm that's is going to be stupid. Like I'm going to suck at this. Like, I have no idea how to make my mind be quiet and. Um, the entire time, I would just be thinking about how bad I wasn't meditating and how I wasn't doing it. Right. And thinking like, oh, I'll never be the type of person to have my mind clear for like an entire five or 10 minutes. Like what a joke. Um, and so like, I was kind of doing it like intermittently and it always felt kind of totally a natural and a little bit miserable. And so. Then I would just not do it for a long period of time. So for a while, that was my relationship with meditating. Like I was curious, um, and occasionally I would like dabble in it and it would not be a great experience. And then I would be like, see, it's not for me. Um, but finally I was like, as I was more in like my wellness journey and really starting to. Slow down a little bit more and like really listen to my body and, and do the things that I knew I needed to do, even though they felt hard. Um, that's when I decided I was going to commit to meditating and, I know as a health coach, like there are lots of ways to be creating healthy habits., like a huge thing is to attach a new habit, to do something that you are, are learning. Why couldn't I say already? Right. All already do automatically every day. That way. You're not having to think about, like, you're not having to make that choice every single day when you're going to do that new habit. That's really hard. So instead, like, what is something you automatically do? Like you always wake up, right? Or you always brush your teeth or for me, I always. I did a morning workout. And so I decided like right at the end of my workout, I could probably fit in a minute to meditate. And the reason I chose a minute is another tip. So healthy habits you want to make sure. Really doable. And for me, the idea of like 10 minutes of meditating was way too intimidating and even five minutes, it was too much. But one minute I was like, no, I, I know I can do that. Even if it's going to feel hard, I could sit down for one minute after working out and give us a try and. So I use those two tips and I started to sit down. And the other major thing that I did is I checked in with the way that I was viewing meditating. And I shifted that. So I was really viewing meditating as. And obligation and something that wasn't going to be fun that I felt like I had to do. So of course, I, it was hard to be making time for that because none of that was appealing. Um, so instead I started to think about it as a little brain vacation, like of all the things that I had to do in the day. This was literally a minute when all I had to do was sit down. Really that was it. I just had to sit down and breathe and maybe try to clear my mind, but well, you know, let's see what happens. So those three things made it so that I started to consistently show up and do that. And it turned out that I was able to do more than a minute pretty quickly and pretty quickly that turned into at least five. And even now I'm at the point where I maybe do five to 10 minutes per day. Um, occasionally I'll do it twice daily. And I'm at the point where I think maybe that would probably be a good thing for me to, do you see how many, like maybe, probably, so I'm not like completely committed to this clearly just yet. Um, but. When I finally started doing that, you know, even five minutes of meditating, daily, truly magical things started to happen. And the things that we need to clear up right now is that no people are not just like made to meditate. Okay. Like if you're like, I'm not the type of person who meditates. There isn't like a type of person, like you can be, you can become that person. There's not like this genetic predisposition to like ability to meditate or not. Okay. And well, I was going to go into the whole world of epigenetics, but we don't need to do that just yet. Um, and if you are saying that your mind is too busy to meditate, or like, you're just like too much of a go, go, go kind of person to meditate. Okay. That is exactly why you need to meditate. All right. Like if, if you're completely calm, peaceful, tranquil, human being, then meditating may not be the thing that you need, but if your brain is crazy and you're stressed and anxious all the time and you have trouble focusing and just controlling your mind. Then you are the type of person who needs to meditate, whether or not that feels good. And it's going to change your life speaking from experience. Okay. So when I finally started to meditate, The biggest thing I'll say that it has done for me is it really helped me to start feeling so much more in control of my thoughts and my mind, because what happens when I'm meditating? just so you know, I don't sit down and then just like, I'm like being, I'm going to meditate and then suddenly my mind is completely like clear and I don't think about anything for five or 10 minutes. So not the reality for me. there are plenty of thoughts that come up, but it's, it ends up being like a little bit of a different way. So like day to day, I was having all these thoughts and they were, they just felt like they were controlling me. And I didn't, I didn't feel like they were things that. Quote or couldn't think about necessarily. And what meditating did was it made me a spectator to my own thoughts so that I was kind of removed from them and like, thoughts can, could come up. And then I had the power to either just like. Let them sit there and see what was coming up around those thoughts. Or I was learning to remove those and let them continue and pass. And that was really valuable because I started seeing, not showing up in other areas of my life as well. Like for example, you know, I'd be driving and like someone would do something stupid or like cut me off and, you know, I initially maybe have this like, reaction of like anger frustration. And I started being able to quickly replace those thoughts with things like, you know, okay. Let it go. It doesn't matter because, another thing that I've realized is that any time someone is making you feel like you're having these negative emotions and then you just kind of continue to. Be irritable and fume about them. Even like, you know, if, if a car cuts you off, they've passed, they have no idea that it ever even impacted you. They don't know that you're yelling at them. Like, so what ends up happening is that. You are just prolonging that negative experience for yourself, and that's a choice and you can also choose to acknowledge that that was a frustrating moment. And then you can let it go so that you don't continue to make your life more unpleasant than it has to be. So those types of things, and there are lots of times, in my life when that comes up, it also. Definitely was, how that was my own thoughts like around myself. So looking in the mirror, you know, and just instantly looking at a part of me that I liked, didn't like how it looked or, it was critiquing, to really start learning to very quickly replace those thoughts with something that was respectful or loving towards my body, you know? And that ability has really just transformed the way. That I experienced life and my overall outlook and my overall happiness and absolutely anxiety, you know, and recognizing like times when I'm really worrying about things, you know, if I'm worrying, that means that something hasn't actually happened yet. That thing that I'm worried about. Even a truth or reality, it's just a possibility and there are other possibilities. And so that meditating has just helped me so much to feel more in control and to be less just like along for the ride, just feeling really just constantly stressed and anxious. Like I used to be. I just am a much more positive. Calm person. And I do truly think that a lot of that is from meditating. It also, definitely has helped me to be more focused. I absolutely think that, lately. Especially, I've noticed like starting to be, especially just attached to my phone or like always looking for something for it to keep my brain occupied. And so that's why I am at this point where I do think that I would bet a. Be benefiting from, either longer meditating or probably doing meditation twice daily. So towards the end of the day, I'm finding that the end of the day is a time when I start to like, especially after like a stressful day, or emotional day at work, I will just really be kind and be like scrolling on Instagram or just like mindlessly on my phone. And that's something that I would like to. To stop because it, it feels like just kinda like this numbing behavior, but not necessarily what I need. And I think that meditating would be a much better way of doing that. So, I wanted to record this episode because just, uh, every day now I do meditate. It's a part of my day that I really do look forward. And, when I sat down, I just was thinking, you know, it does bend like a hard 24 hours. And I was just like, yes, like this is just this little pocket of time for me for the next I did it for eight minutes now. I don't use apps anymore. I just sit down and set my timer and, and breathe. See what comes up in my thoughts. but I was just, was like, yes, like, this is, this is what I get to do for the next eight minutes. I just get to sit here and this peaceful moment in my cozy home. And that's super yummy and awesome. And I really invite you to. Get curious about how meditating could impact your life in a really amazing way. And I also really want to encourage you if you just feel like meditating is so not for you, especially if you are just like a type a go, go, go. I am telling you right now, you need meditating. So give it a try. Do the Amelia challenge, choose something you do every day and pick a doable amount of time. Commit to one minute. If you have to start with 30 seconds, whatever you're after do, and just sit down and do it and know that there is no perfect way of meditating, you can't do it wrong. Perfection and meditating. They're not like a thing. You know, those do not are not compatible. Okay. So ditch any expectations. Don't worry about whether you're doing it right or not. If you're sitting there and you're breathing and you're just working on paying attention to your thoughts and seeing if you can clear them, then amazing job. You're meditating. There are going to be a pro in no time. Okay. Chair's your inevitable health, happiness and success.