Use Meditation To Reduce Stress
Read time: 3 minutes
Construction is insanely stressful.
Constant deadlines
Arguing on site
Tight budgets
It's no wonder people burn out.
So it’s time to make a change on how you deal with stress.
And by change, I don’t mean something drastic like working out for 90 minutes/day or seeing a therapist weekly.
I mean something small that takes 10 minutes but can reduce stress for 24 hours.
Sound pretty good?
Then let’s learn how to practice meditation. Here’s how:
Step 1: Get out of bed 10 minutes earlier than usual
I started meditating in 2022, and it was the best year for mental health in my life.
I hear from people all the time: “I tried meditating but it never stuck.”
I’ve found that’s usually because they were trying to do too much right away.
Meditation doesn’t have to be some rigid, 30-60 minute exercise.
I started building my meditation habit by dedicating just 10 minutes every morning to the practice.
And how did I find those 10 minutes?
Easy. I set an alarm for just 10 minutes earlier than my usual wake up time.
Yeah it sucks waking up a little earlier, but instead of waking up and looking right at your phone and getting stressed about emails, you wake up and clear your mind with a meditation practice.
After awhile, you’ll start looking forward to waking up.
Instead of dreading it.
Step 2: Find A Comfortable Place
Whether it’s in your bedroom, your living room, or your office, just find a space where you feel comfortable.
Sit on the floor, sit on your couch, sit in your bed- it doesn’t matter.
Just pick somewhere without distractions.
And get comfortable.
Make this some quality “you time”.
Step 3: Practice Guided Meditation
Another common objection to meditation is: “I want to meditate but I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
The best way to overcome that is to start by doing guided meditation.
Guided meditation means you listen to someone describing the meditation process to you:
When to breathe
What to imagine
Mantras to use for focus
It’s really helpful when you’re first starting out.
I would recommend you search, “BoHo Beautiful 10 Minute Meditation” on Youtube.
Their account has tons of great guided meditations that I still use almost every morning.
Get to that comfortable place in your house, queue up one of their videos, and follow the prompts.
Your practice has begun!
Step 4: Focus On Your Breathing
The is the most important step for having an effective meditation practice:
Focus on your breathing.
You WILL get distracted as you meditate.
And that’s okay. That means you’re just like everyone else.
But do NOT get discouraged.
Instead, send that thought out of your brain, and focus your energy on your breath.
Feel the cold air as it comes into your nose.
Feel the warm air as it leaves your nose.
Repeat.
And as soon as you get distracted again?
Come back to your breath.
It’s only 10 minutes.
You got this.
Step 5: Don’t Check Your Phone
Boom. You just did your first meditation practice!
I hope you're feeling great.
But there's one more important thing you can do to really make an impact on your stress levels.
I used to check my phone before I got to work every morning.
Even if I meditated, I was stressed out within minutes thinking about everything I needed to do that day.
So I changed my routine.
Now, I never check my phone before I get to work.
Why does that help reduce stress?
Because it gives me the rest of the morning to enjoy the peaceful feeling I cultivated during my meditation practice.
I now go into work feeling much less stressed than I ever did in the past.
And it’s made me a better employee, friend, and husband.
I hope you can do the same by making meditation a big part of your 2023.
Happy growth, all.
