A Good Failure

I wrote recently about a plan to start meditation again:

This plan didn't work! I feel good about that. It reminded me of some stuff I already knew about meditation that I hadn't thought about in awhile. 

A big problem is making time for it. It is not a very time consuming habit, but it's easy to say "I'll do it every day before lunch," and then find that you are busy before lunch, or that you forget about it.

I came at the return to meditation from the point of view of the duration, and working up to 10 minutes. That's not useful for me. I did sit for a few sessions during this period, and less than 10 minutes may as well be 10. I know I can sit for 10, so I'll just do that.

The issue is when do I do it. I need to build a schedule. The schedule needs to be flexible.

The title of this post is that it is a good failure. That's the other big thing that meditation teaches that I haven't thought about much recently. Be gentle with yourself. You'll be restless, your mind will wander, you'll get distracted. That's not failing. Maybe not actually doing meditation when you intend to is failing, but I'll be gentle with myself this time and just return to it.

In practical terms I'm going to set a few reminders for myself to meditate throughout each day. If I miss the first, I'll catch the second. If I miss the second, I'll catch the third. The third is the safety net before the end of the day.

I'll update here on how it goes.