7 Reasons You Can't Meditate (and what to do about it) Part 1

Much has been written about the benefits of meditation. From stress reduction to better health, deeper sleep, more energy and clearer thinking. There are other benefits, as well. Yet, there are many people who would like to have a meditation practice and never begin. Or, they start, get stuck, back away, begin again later, but their practice wanes.

Why is this?

Meditation can be so simple, you can do it with your eyes closed! It’s all energy, my friend. It’s all energy. The good news is that you are senior to the energy that seems to get in the way.

In this 7 part series, we'll explore the Top 7 reasons people have for not meditating and what you can do about it. You know, just in case any ring true for you. Please feel free to share this with anyone you might think it'll help.

1. There never seems to be enough time.

This is probably the biggest complaint from people who have tried meditation and can’t make it a regular practice. We all have the same amount of time. There are 1440 minutes in a day. You have the same amount of time as everyone else, both those with and those without a meditation practice. So, it would be more apt to think in terms of “I don’t have enough space”.

Your “space” can be defined as “wherever you have your attention”.

So, if you have your attention in work projects, commuting, conversations you’ve had, family and relationships, problems in your life you’re trying to solve, what you did this past weekend, what you’ll be doing next weekend or whatever you have your attention on, you might be feeling a little “spaced out”. Meditation is a means of calling back your attention from where you’ve left it so you might bring balance to your space.

I enjoy the story of Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant church; he wrote that he would spend at least an hour in prayer and meditation every day. If he had a particularly busy schedule that day, he would spend 2 hours in prayer. It was the best way he knew to be able to create enough space to get everything done, no matter how much time he had! To get around this, make space for meditation. Put your attention on a time and place to sit quietly and decide how much time you want to give to it. Then, set an alarm and when it goes off, give that time to yourself for relaxing.