How To Maintain That Post-Meditation Glow

It’s happened to all of us.

You start off your morning with the perfect meditation. Thirty minutes of mindfulness goes by in no time. You open your eyes feeling present, loving and at one with the cosmos. You are SO ready for today.

Two hours later the magic has all but evaporated.

Bad traffic, a rude encounter or a stressful assignment has thrown you off course. You’re back to feeling anything but zen.

What happened? More importantly, how can you get that feeling back and keep it there?

This is the challenge with meditation: it’s not a permanent solution. True meditation is much more than a 30 minute session twice daily —  it’s a constant state of mind.

How can you achieve that state of mind without spending all of your waking hours in Lotus?

Required materials for this awesomeness

1) A cell phone or alarm clock

2) Self-awareness

3) Will-power

Think you’re up for the task?

Good.

Keep in mind if you half-ass this, you will get half-ass results. We’re going to FULL-ass, constant meditation here!

1) Set your timer to go off every 30 or 60 minutes. 

I use 30 minute intervals in conjunction with the Pomodoro Technique. Use the smallest interval feasible for your schedule.

2) Each time the alarm goes off, take 2-5 minutes to become completely present. 

This is harder than it sounds. Your mind will say “I’m feeling fine! We can skip this one.” NO. Even if you’re feeling high on life, don’t skip your session. Follow the breath, do affirmations, visualize, smile for 30 seconds or [insert favorite meditation technique here].

These constant state corrections will slowly train your mind to stay present at all times.

3) If you’re not completely centered after your mini-meditation, take more drastic action.

Often times that short session will not be enough to bring back that glow completely. You have to be vehement about not rationalizing this as ‘good enough’ and going back to your routine. Realize that you won’t be nearly as efficient or happy with what you’re doing unless you take the time center yourself.

Go on a walk, go sit in a bathroom stall, sit under your desk… do WHATEVER you need to do to get that glow back.

Remember that you’re training your brain for the long-haul, not just today. Your are literally increasing the amount of grey matter in your brain, reshaping how you think and interact with the world.

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Try this out and share your experience in the comments!