001: Meditation
*This is an article that I wrote way back in high school— back before this website became a source of D&D 5e homebrew material. Back then, it was all about personal development.
I have been meditating twice a day for the past year¹. There is a whole range of biological benefits for establishing this practice, but those weren’t the changes that I noticed. Above everything else, I started to realize that everything wasn’t as pressing as it had seemed to be, that I had time to think and reflect and maybe not even act, and that I began to be able to do more in less time.
If I were to be asked what would be the one thing to begin to gain better control of your life, it’d be meditation. Every single time. Which is why, of course, this is lesson 001.
This is the basis. This is the foundation for your House, the very thing that all aspects of your livelihood are built upon. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t slept, if you haven’t eaten, if you feel like everyone’s out to irritate you, start and end your day with meditation and you will have already won.
This is how you can make it easy.
1. Use a Low-Bar / High-Bar System
The single most common reason people give up on activities before they can become habitual is that they make it too difficult. I get that. I’ve failed plenty of times before even starting, just because I didn’t yet understand this core truth of habit-making.
That’s where the Low-Bar / High-Bar System comes in. Meditation is going to be beneficial no matter how little you do it— if you have never done it before. But here, we’ll be doing what I did: twice a day, every day.
First you have to decide on two numbers: the High-Bar and the Low-Bar.
Low-Bar: This should be an amount of time that you will always be able to fit into your schedule. If you’re late for class, for work, if you didn’t sleep at all or you’re sick and the sky is raining knives, use the Low-Bar. When I started, I decided on 1 minute.
High-Bar: This is the maximum amount of time that you can imagine meditating for. If you’re feeling productive or even the opposite, it’s not really important. But if for some strange reason you are certain that you can attempt to focus on your breath for this long, set your timer for your High-Bar. A year ago, I decided on 10 minutes for this.
It is vital to understand that these numbers define a window. We’re building a habit, not a series of failures. Don’t decide on a Low-Bar that you can’t keep.
2. The Practice
As soon as you wake up each morning, pick up your phone and go to Clocks. Set a timer for any time within your High-Bar / Low-Bar System. Make yourself comfortable and tap Start.
Some things to remember:
Any time within your Low-Bar / High-Bar System is a success
Starting off, you don’t need to force yourself into Lotus to meditate. The key is being comfortable. If you feel most at ease lying down, lie down. If you are comfortable sitting cross-legged, do that. If you want to sit in a chair, that is completely fine. (If you do want to get more into the physical practice of meditation, you might consider buying a cushion for it. I use a Buckwheat Hull Meditation Cushion.
Follow your breath. You do not need to alter your breathing at all, just follow its path. In through the nose, out through the nose. (If you’re congested, feel free to breathe through your mouth.)
If you come back to your breath at least once, you have succeeded. This is an exercise. You are practicing coming back to your breath. Even if you only do it once, good job.
As you will begin to understand as you meditate, most things aren’t as complicated or difficult as they might seem to be. Do it consistently, do it purposefully, and breathe happy.
¹True as of 2018.
