Understanding Ego Depletion

It’s New Years, the time when we all feel super motivated to take this new beginning to recreate ourselves into the people we’ve always wanted to be! For most of us, it is also approaching the time of the year when we get easily frustrated by any seeming failure, and give up on our good intentions. Ahh, January. Are you looking for a simple habit that can be kept up with no effort and will have a monumental impact on your life? Well, sorry to disappoint, but I can only make two of those wishes come true. (Spoiler alert: this will take effort; all good habits do.) The Benefits of Regular Meditation There are many benefits of keeping a regular meditation habit including: Stress reduction and management Growth of self esteem Relief of anxiety A sense of control over your mind, life, and time It’s important to note that meditation likely won’t cure your mental illness. If you’re dealing with mental illness in your life, please do see a trained psychologist, therapist, counselor, etc. ifyou are able. There is no shame in needing extra help. I’ve been in counseling for my rather serious mental illnesses for nearly four years now, and it has been a bigger help than anything else. Meditation IS, however, a valuable coping skill that will help make panic attacks, flashbacks, depression, depersonalization, and other symptoms easier to deal with. Avoid the Traps! Like with any habit, there are certain mental traps that are easy to fall into, and hard to get out of. These traps can make your new meditation habit early on, or even not get started at all. Here are some of the major traps, and how to avoid them. “I just can’t stop my thoughts! There’s a common misconception that meditation means you must empty your mind of thoughts. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t work. Trying to control your thoughts makes meditation a stressor instead of a relief. Instead, allow your thoughts to come and go without interference. Simply observe them, and as you become familiar with meditationprocesses, you may find they slow on their own. For extra help, you may want to try a focusing tool such as crystals or a set of beads designed to be accompanied by mantras. [button font_size=”16″ color=”#f9f510″ text_color=”#000000″ icon=”” url=”” width=”” target=”_blank”]Visit Shop[/button] “I don’t have time for meditation!” Five minutes. It takes five minutes a day to start a meditation habit. Over time, you can grow the length of your meditation sessions, but I’ve found five minutes a day is a great starting point. At the end of this post, you’ll find a free printable to get you up to thirty minute sessions. Here’s the thing: Meditation makes time for itself. Think of all the time you waste each day worrying. Meditation can reduce that time. It can also make you use your time more productively. While the right amount of stress can make us more productive, too much stress leaves us feeling overwhelmed, which reduces productivity. By reducing the negative stress, meditation helps uscombat overwhelm so we can get things done. “Do or do not, there is no try.” I hate to break it to you, Star Wars fans, but Yoda was wrong. Or at least, the people who quote this for every circumstance as if failure is the same as inaction, are wrong. Take your pick. Here’s the thing about failure: it’s good for you. What? Okay, hear me out. It’s been shown time and again that we learn through failure. Whether you’re a student going over missed questions on a math exam, a language learner bravely powering through a conversation with a native speaker despite a limited vocabulary and frequent flubs, or someone developing a meditation practice who just can’t seem to focus, we learn through our mistakes. There is no greater killer of a blossoming meditation habit than a focus on failure as a negative. 30 in 30 Tracker To help you on your journey, I’ve created a printable 30 day tracker to incrementally ramp up the time you spend meditating each day. This is the same method I used when I