Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics summary

No matter what kind of meditation you’re doing, the first step is always the same: getting yourself comfortable.

So take a moment to get yourself situated in your favorite chair and take a few deep breaths as you straighten out your spine and your posture.

One of the most common concerns Dan Harris hears about meditation is the amount of time it requires. Many people are under the impression that there’s just no way they’ll be able to find time to meditate in their hectically busy schedule.

But contrary to what you may think, forming a daily meditation practice doesn’t have to require more than a couple minutes here and there. In fact, just 60 seconds can be enough to get your practice started.

Have you avoided meditating because you were worried about what your friends might think? This is another common concern the author has encountered. But here’s the truth: meditation has become far more popular than you may know.

It’s been a long, uphill fight to turn meditation into a mainstream practice in the United States, but, in recent years, attitudes have finally begun changing.

If someone recommended a two-hour meditation, your first thought might be to politely say, thanks, but no thanks. But, as the saying goes, “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it” – because this could very well be your new favorite exercise.

Basically, a two-hour meditation is your free pass to live a life of leisure for a while.

When you feel unwanted emotions, do you run away from them, bottle them up or try to pretend they don’t exist?

Well, part of what makes meditation so valuable is that it gives you the tools to stop running and face your messy emotions.

Lots of people have stressful jobs, but, for some of us, a bad day can be a matter of life or death. For doctors, police officers and firefighters, a standard workday has far more pressure than meeting a deadline or delivering a presentation.

One of the best ways to cope with high-pressure jobs is to meditate, which is why Sylvia Moir, the chief of police in El Cerrito, California, has introduced a regular meditation practice for the officers in her team.

If you start meditating today, you’ll probably think: this is great, I have a new practice that is going to improve my life! But the challenge is keeping it up and staying consistent, even when you catch a cold or go on vacation. Because once you miss a day or two, it’s easy to miss another and, before you know it, it’s slipped away completely.

This is why it’s of the utmost importance to stay focused on the benefits.