Written by Jen Liu

“Making time for meditation isn't about waving a magic wand and creating more minutes in the day. It's about seeing opportunities and pockets of time where they already exist and choosing to devote some of them to our practice, stemming from a deep-rooted understanding of its value.”

Once you've been studying and practicing meditation for some time, you'll probably have developed a good grasp of the instructions and underlying concepts. But there is one challenge that almost seems to present itself anew every day: figuring out how to make time for it.

Maybe you're a parent, have a time-consuming job, or can just be a bit scattered. Many circumstances cause us to struggle with upholding a consistent meditation practice, regardless of how much we believe in the merits of doing it. By looking at some of the common scenarios and aversions that make us want to procrastinate on or skip meditation, we can prepare the way for a more resilient long-term practice.

All too often, the flow of the day seems to tumble into an avalanche as one task spills into the next. Before we know it, it's nighttime, we're exhausted, and going to bed feels like priority number one. This is where the time of day we choose to meditate can work to our advantage.

Meditating in the morning is popular among practitioners, both because the mind's baseline state can feel clearer and lighter at that time, and it can feel like a time of day that is more within our control. Towards the end of each day, we often feel like the clock has run out to do the things we'd hoped to do, whereas on the front-end, we can usually plan to set our alarm a little earlier to create the time we need.

Building a routine around meditation in this way — associating it with a certain time of day, spot in your home, and adding some formality by lighting incense or using a singing bowl — can both make it less likely to slip your mind and feel more integrated into your everyday life.

Setting small, achievable goals like meditating for ten or twenty consecutive days in a row can also be helpful forays in proving to yourself that it is doable. Find an accountability buddy who wants to take the challenge with you and share your findings with each other. At the end of that time, you'll almost certainly have learned more about how to manage your own practice than any outside perspective could teach you.

Making time for meditation isn't about waving a magic wand and creating more minutes in the day. It's about seeing opportunities and pockets of time where they already exist and choosing to devote some of them to our practice, stemming from a deep-rooted understanding of its value. Sometimes, it's as simple as remembering our commitment and being decisive about it — it's funny how often the time we spend deliberating whether or not we should meditate could have actually been spent doing the practice itself! Working on translating intention into action with fewer sidesteps, living more mindfully throughout the day, and learning how to manage our time are just a few of the many benefits of a sustained meditation practice.

What are some things that get in the way of you making time for meditation, and how might you work with them?