The resistance I sometimes experience to making time for meditation and quiet moments of reflection comes because I tell myself, “I’m too busy,” “there’s no time for this,” or “there are too many other things I have to do.” From what my coaching clients tell me, I know that I’m not alone in having these feelings.
Recently, during an unusually lightly scheduled weekday morning, I sat in meditation after doing yoga. As I frequently find when I meditate, my mind didn’t stay blank for long. That’s part of why it’s referred to as meditation practice—it’s hard to quiet the chatter of “monkey mind.”
The phrase that kept popping into my head was “stolen moments.” I’d made a page-long list the evening before of all the tasks I wanted to accomplish the next day and part of me was itching to get to it. I began to feel guilty about taking this time out for myself, as if I was a thief, sneaking or stealing these moments.
Then it occurred to me that the only person I might be robbing from was me. When I don’t take the time for meditation or other practices that calm and center me, I deny myself what is rightly mine: “the peace that passes all understanding.” There is no reason to feel bad, guilty, or ashamed about spending my time in this way. Instead of stealing these moments I’m now claiming them.