100 Days Of Meditation

[ZenBlue]

I'm going to use this journal to hold myself accountable and to keep track of my progress.

The goal is to meditate every single day for 100 days straight for at least 5 minutes a day. I can choose to do more if I wish, but I have to do at least 5 minutes every single day.

I will start with the do nothing meditation technique and may change my methods along the way. I set a timer on my phone for 5 minutes and just lay there doing nothing, but observing my thoughts.

Day 1

Today is the first day of this challenge. I am starting with the do nothing meditation method because that is currently the easiest for me to do. I know I will be able to do it every single day for 5 minutes a day because it is so easy. It is important when starting challenges, to create a system that makes it very easy to do.

The 5 minutes went by very fast today. I had a lot of monkey chatter in my brain, but I was also able to do a deep breathing exercise while my mind was constantly wandering off and then flickering back into the present.

What I hope to achieve by meditating for 100 days straight:

• Turn it into a daily habit that I can implement permanently into my life
• Develop stronger willpower
• Increase my ability to focus for longer periods of time
• Develop my level of awareness
• Effectively manage the chaos in my mind

[Extreme Z7]

This is 'deja vu' for me. I started my meditation with 5 minutes a day too since 2015 August. I do it for 1 hour a day now and it still feels like I still have a lot of room to improve with meditation.

[ZenBlue]

Day 2

- Meditated for 5 minutes today

- Went out for a little drive

- Went through some of the Life Purpose Course videos

[ZenBlue]

Day 3

Had a 5 minute meditation session today. I find there is still a lot of monkey chatter in my brain and the time goes by rather quickly because of that. I would easily be able to meditate for 10+ minutes, but I don't think I would be consistent if I started increasing my time. I will hit at least 5 minutes every day until it becomes a daily habit and I will increase the time from there.

I used to meditate about 2 years ago and I was doing it daily for at least 30 minutes a day. I kept that up for a few months, and then I stopped doing it altogether. Now I'm starting again because it had such a positive effect on my life before, and this time I want it to become a permanent part of my life.

[ZenBlue]

Day 4 

Today was a bit of a rough day, but i got through it and it got better in the end. I still need a lot of work to calm down my mind and maintain awareness throughout the day. 

[ZenBlue]

Day 5

Increased my meditation time to 10 minutes today. I feel that 10 minutes is a good pace for me because 5 minutes doesn't feel like enough time for me to get a good meditation.

Also I saw a car accident happen right in front of me. A guy was trying to make a left turn really fast and he couldn't control the car. He crashed headfirst right into a lamp pole. It was a really hard crash and I couldn't even see if the guy was ok because the light turned green and the traffic started moving. There was a police car right around that area and he immediately rushed to the crashed car. As I was driving by I saw a young girl climb out of the passenger window.

It's crazy because the car just went right by me so quickly I'm glad I wasn't around the area where he crashed.

[ZenBlue]

Day 6

Had a 10 minute meditation session today. I still have a lot of monkey chatter in my mind. I think it will be a while before I will be able to keep my focus on the present moment for long periods of time.

Also I downloaded and started listening to a new audio book today. I will use my daily commute to work as the time to listen to audio books and podcasts. This will help me to make better use of my time and energy.

[ZenBlue]

Day 7

Today was a busy day, I had to meet a friend after work and then met up with my girlfriend.

I managed to get 5 minutes of meditation in for the day. 

 

 

[Zane]

@ZenBlue I love how you've been consistent with your daily meditation and how the time flows by for you while meditating. You're making good progress with your meditation! 

[ZenBlue]

@Zane Thank you Zane! I appreciate your words of encouragement 

[Zane]

4 minutes ago, ZenBlue said:

@Zane Thank you Zane! I appreciate your words of encouragement 

My pleasure! I love writing words of encouragement to people! 

Edited April 16, 2016 by Zane

[ZenBlue]

Day 8

I had a 15 minute meditation session today. 15 minutes actually didn't go by that quickly. Adding that 5 extra minutes really made it feel quite a bit longer. I'm going to meditate for 15 minutes each day until it starts to feel comfortable, then I will increase the time again after that. I'm going to keep increasing the meditation sessions by 5 minutes every time I start to feel comfortable with the time I am doing.

[nbolt]

2 hours ago, ZenBlue said:

Day 8

I had a 15 minute meditation session today. 15 minutes actually didn't go by that quickly. Adding that 5 extra minutes really made it feel quite a bit longer. I'm going to meditate for 15 minutes each day until it starts to feel comfortable, then I will increase the time again after that. I'm going to keep increasing the meditation sessions by 5 minutes every time I start to feel comfortable with the time I am doing.

Keep up the fifteen minutes!

[ZenBlue]

@Neill Definitely will do!

Day 9

Had a 15 minute session today.

I find that I have a hard time with listening to anything for long periods of time. When I have to concentrate on listening to something my mind drifts in and out of consciousness. I am constantly getting lost in my own thoughts and distracted by my immediate surroundings. Through daily meditation I hope to improve my listening skills and focus abilities.

[Zane]

10 hours ago, ZenBlue said:

@Neill Definitely will do!

Day 9

Had a 15 minute session today.

I find that I have a hard time with listening to anything for long periods of time. When I have to concentrate on listening to something my mind drifts in and out of consciousness. I am constantly getting lost in my own thoughts and distracted by my immediate surroundings. Through daily meditation I hope to improve my listening skills and focus abilities.

Great job on your fifteen minute session! One suggestion I have is to experiment with a variety of meditation techniques. I was in a Buddhist meditation club where I sat on a cushion on meditated for half an hour and what I dealt with was my foot falling asleep and getting foot cramps. I get into meditational and relaxed states when I'm outside in nature or when I become focused while watching a play! The play gets me so invested that I enter a flow state where I'm inspired. 

[ZenBlue]

@Zane Thanks! Yea definitely I will try out different meditation techniques along the way. I think being around nature would help me as well, as nature does relax and energize me.

Day 10

Had another 15 minute session today.

I find that I still get annoyed or frustrated by the certain behaviors and actions from other people. When I was younger I had an incredible amount of patience for people, but now my patience has grown very thin. I don't tolerate as much as I used to and I have developed an attitude of aggression and raw anger inside that wasn't there before.

Through this I gain a better insight and understanding of my father and the behaviors I have observed in him.

With this meditation practice I want to develop my mind to stay more grounded, and calm throughout the day.

[ZenBlue]

Day 11

Only managed to get a 5 minute meditation session today. I was very distracted all day today.

My mind is in chaos right now. I feel like I'm being pulled in 20 different directions. Lately, life has been somewhat demanding, and there are so many things to take care of that keep popping up. Every time I take care of one issue there's another that comes up. I'm feeling drained and exhausted every day. I feel like I'm not recovering because I haven't been able to get the alone time I desperately need.

I'm the type of person who needs massive amounts of alone time in order to function well in life and around people. Sometimes I feel like I need weeks to recover. I would love to have at least 2 weeks to myself with no commitments to anyone. It's exhausting keeping up with the demands of work, family, girlfriend, and friends. I don't even have kids and I don't know how everyone else does it. I feel the heavy burden building inside because I have been dealing with this feeling for a year now. It's reaching a point where I just need to take a break and get away for a little bit. Just for a few days.

I would really like more time to spend on my self-actualization work and my business ideas, but I keep falling for these traps that suck my time and my energy. I am going to practice mindfulness meditation so that I become more aware of these traps and avoid them consistently.

[Zane]

@ZenBlue I'm glad that you're aware of these traps and how your mind is going into so many directions. I'm glad you were able to have a five minute meditation session today. Some days can be harder than others but when you're committing yourself to a hundred day challenge, you're bound to make mistakes. Maybe you can find a strategy to moderate these demands or eliminate these demands by clarifying your boundaries with people and let them know how much you value self-actualization and meditation! 

[ZenBlue]

@Zane Thanks, it's been a challenge over the past 2 years setting boundaries with my family and friends. Only just recently the boundaries have been getting stronger. I have also been able to eliminate a lot of things from my life that no longer add value. The main challenge I have now is setting stronger boundaries with my girlfriend. I definitely do need to develop a solid strategy for that and execute it in a way that will make both of us happy.

Day 12

Had a 15 minute meditation session today.

I am still practicing the do nothing meditation and that is what is keeping me going on consistently. My next step will be to switch over to the mindfulness meditation technique. It takes some mental work so I am currently in the process of organizing my life so that I can not be as exhausted mentally every day.

[ZenBlue]

Day 13

Had a 15 minute meditation session today.

Lately for some reason I have been thinking a lot about religion. I'm not a religious person, but I was born into a Christian family. I don't want to spark a religion debate so I'm not going to write my full thoughts about it. Overall, I am realizing there is still so much to learn about life. I must study the works of others and learn something new every single day. In essence, I am forever a student of life.