21-Day Meditation Experience, Making Every Moment Matter: Day 5 – Old Time Habits and How to Change Them

Habits that we have formed around time pressure and rushing to meet a deadline take a toll on our psychological and physical health. The effects of low-grade, everyday stress accumulate over years and decades, developing into chronic health disorders.

Today’s meditation connects us to the deep silence of awareness that allows our mind and body to release daily tension so that it doesn’t accumulate over time, but we also learn that the state of present awareness allows us to break out of our old habits. Living in the now means we become free of the past conditioning that compelled our thoughts and feelings along the same old stressful pathways. When our awareness is in the present, it is open to and sees new possibilities and choices even in the same old situations.

Journal Questions

1. Each of us has a personal time profile. To help you find yours, look at the following list and write down which term fits you best for each number: 1. Fast-paced or slow-paced? 2. Focused or relaxed? 3. Patient or impatient? 4. Sleep comes easily or sleep can be a problem? 4. Steady or impulsive? 5. Methodical or spontaneous? 6. Make decisions quickly or need time to ponder?
2. To stay in balance, you must live according to your time profile, which dictates your natural pace of life. Looking at how you answered Question 1, journal about which qualities you feel are being challenged or opposed by your lifestyle and/or the people around you. In other words, how is your natural pace of life being disrupted?
3. Now describe what you can do to align yourself more fully with your time profile. Some examples include changing your work or sleep hours, asking family members to respect your personal pace and rhythm, or accepting that your pace and rhythm doesn’t have to match anyone else’s.
4. Reflect further on your experience today.