Balancing Act Between Life And Meditating

[Jay S]

How do you balance your time when you have other responsibilities and obligations such as family, work, exercise  and the list goes on. I am finding it difficult to dedicate distraction free time to this practice. Other meditation groups I have consulted have mentioned, giving up some of your sleep, waking up at 5am, earning extra to hire help and even just walking away from it all! Open to hearing some thoughts and suggestions.

[Eye]

As Pinocchio said - priorities. Meditation is something veeery contrary to other everyday tasks, because it requires NOT moving/doing/thinking and obviously that's why it's so hard to "find" time for that. 

24h/day - 8h sleep - 8h work you get 8h left of free time. Try to extract 20 minutes from that for everyday meditation:)

Edited February 9, 2016 by Eye

[The Unlucky Fat Guy]

I would suggest starting small.  

If you can't do 1/2 an hour do 15 minutes.  If you can't do 15 minutes do 5.  Just try and be consistent about it.  You'll probably find that you enjoy the peace your able to get from a those few minutes and may wish to built on it.  In my experience, it is not the duration that matters as much but the consistency.  You're building a habit.

I know what you mean about a busy life but I find though that I'm able to spend 1/2 an hour or so before bed to do some meditation.  Other days I do more.  There are probably as many approaches to meditating as there are people on this planet.  Try experimenting and see what works for you

[Jay S]

1 hour ago, Eye said:

As Pinocchio said - priorities. Meditation is something veeery contrary to other everyday tasks, because it requires NOT moving/doing/thinking and obviously that's why it's so hard to "find" time for that. 

24h/day - 8h sleep - 8h work you get 8h left of free time. Try to extract 20 minutes from that for everyday meditation:)

This is probably the most practical advice that was given to me by another advanced practitioner of meditation...at a younger age 30s 40s, divide your time as best you can and try to set yourself up to have more free time to dedicate towards this as you get older (ie. retirement)...Although at some level I understand that 'normal life' is an illusion...by existing here and now, at some basic level 'I' am in the game, whether I like it or not  

[Azrael]

2 hours ago, Jay S said:

How do you balance your time when you have other responsibilities and obligations such as family, work, exercise  and the list goes on.

Wake up 20 minutes earlier and use that time for meditation. It is that easy. I wake up 60 minutes earlier because of that and every minute is worth it. Trust me. 3-5 months into the practice and you'll preach the same.

Happy meditating ;-)

[christianblake]

If you really care about your meditation habit, and raising your consciousness then you will find time. Obviously  manage your time wisely but it's all about prioritizing. If you're having trouble dedicating 20 minutes of your time to meditate out of a 24 hour period then I would suggest reconsidering your priorities. Get back on to your vision on why you started meditating and pursuing  enlightenment in the first place. Maybe watch Leo's videos to get some inspiration again.

And sometimes you can't find the inspiration and just have to brute force it and use your willpower to dedicate time. Track your meditation and/or contemplation habit via tracker. When you see that you've done it for 59 days straight it's pretty hard to fall of it.

- Get back on your reasons and vision for what your meditation / contemplation habit will bring you

- Manage time and dedicate a block of time during the day in which you will meditate

- Track your habits, build momentum, the longer streak you've done it for the harder it is for you to fall off.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Jay S said:

How do you balance your time when you have other responsibilities and obligations such as family, work, exercise  and the list goes on

Do not take meditation to be something different from life.  Life is a constant meditation in itself.  Everything one does and thinks at any time of day, in any situation, is opportunity for meditation.  

When one finds it difficult to set aside time for "formal" meditation practice, it is not a problem.  

In many cases, sticking to formal formulas, such as sit-down meditations leads to rather sterile environments with barren results.

Mindfulness practice comes to the rescue.  In any situations, at all times of the day, on any occasion, one can focus and become attentive to their thoughts (watching thinking as it happens), attentive to their actions (watching one's movements and those of others).   Being attentive means not jumping to conclusions on anything, just being there, participating as you normally would, but with focused attention and care as to one's own behaviour. 

This type of mindfulness is perhaps one of the great forms of true ongoing meditation.   Everyday becomes a meditation.   "You" as a separate identity finds its natural place in daily processes, but "YOU" as the integral awareness of "BEING" is in a creative mode of discovery and most useful manifestation.  

Meditate on the above and then enter a life of meditation naturally.

joy

 

Edited February 9, 2016 by walt

[Jay S]

2 hours ago, Pinocchio said:

Honestly, Jay, I don't mean to lean on you, but listen to yourself. You've already postponed all serious work to your retirement. You've already commited to living out most of your deluded life just as it is. Not "whether I like it or not" but because, just now, you told yourself that's the way it is.

That's NOT the way it is, unless you keep telling yourself. Keep making those excuses. Notice this vicious, diabolical circle. This is first-rate ego entrenchment happening right under your nose. And this is why a rote meditation technique won't work either. The message here is not that you should meditate more, but that you've already overshot the objective.

THIS is delusion 101, the intelligence of fear, right there. THIS is why nobody ever gets anywhere, why nobody ever grows up, let alone wake up. It's not some magical "out there" force keeping you sound asleep, you're doing it right now, right where you stand. Abre los ojos, amigo.

/end of rant (and sorry)

I agree in many cases excuses are made and progress is stunted. What are you proposing precisely? Meditate how many hours a day? Do what to sustain yourself? Food/shelter/clothing etc...the truth is if this form, the human form is the vessel we are given for building on to whatever level of understanding we are born with...this particular machine requires maintenance and resources to be kept in working order...I agree once you've obtained the end goal, chances are the human body/form will probably not be any more valuable to you than a tree...but in the interim, until that time/experience/understanding occurs one must balance the obligations of life and cultivating higher knowledge....that's what I think at least, given my understanding thus far...of course I am not claiming any absolute right or wrong way 

Edited February 9, 2016 by Jay S

[Jay S]

I should mention that I do already dedicate 30-60 minutes daily to meditation practice and have done so for the past 2 years. I have had some great insights from this and it has helped me raise my awareness from where I began. Taking it farther, in terms of dedicating more time to it and also to retreats etc as @Leo Gura suggests in some of his videos, is more of challenge. The other challenge I have found is that when you meditate and reach a certain state, you walk out the front door and watch some of that progress melt away as you're caught up in the day to day grind...

[Ajax]

@Jay S  The ideal scenario is to be meditating at all times, continually improving your awareness. Work toward this.

If you are hitting a wall in terms of progress, the answer is in your thought processes and daily habits and activities. It takes a great deal of personal awareness to uncover personal obstacles. None of us have the insight to do that for you.

[Makkatya]

Waking up more early would be a bit awkward for me. Because like Leo said, you should meditate when you are at your peak, cognitively. Every day life may not let us do it at that point, but sacrificing sleep for early day meditation would just ruin my day.  It depends on the person.

[Jay S]

1 hour ago, d1ajax said:

@Jay S  The ideal scenario is to be meditating at all times, continually improving your awareness. Work toward this.

If you are hitting a wall in terms of progress, the answer is in your thought processes and daily habits and activities. It takes a great deal of personal awareness to uncover personal obstacles. None of us have the insight to do that for you.

I have heard of such a state of awareness, where you are meditating in whatever it is you are doing. I can't say I have personally reached such a stage yet, but I can conceptualize what you are describing. This is helpful for me, because I tend to struggle most with this aspect of self-development...balancing various things while still engaging in the practice...