{"id":10584,"date":"2018-04-24T08:50:37","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T12:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alifeofproductivity.com\/?p=10584"},"modified":"2022-09-01T04:55:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T04:55:16","slug":"how-to-meditate-everyday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/how-to-meditate-everyday\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I meditate for either 21 or 43 minutes \u2014 no more, no less"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Takeaway:<\/b>The next time you’re resisting your meditation practice\u2014or any other task\u2014ask yourself whether you have time to watch a TV show instead. If you do, you have the time to meditate\u2014your brain is resisting the ritual.<\/p>\n

Estimated Reading Time:<\/b> 1 minutes, 37s.<\/div><\/div>\n

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\nI often write about the wonderful benefits of meditation<\/a>\u2014including how the practice will make you more focused and productive<\/a>. I’ve had a daily 30-minute meditation ritual for years, and each day I’m sure I make this time back a few times over.<\/p>\n

Lately, instead of taking 30 minutes for the practice, I’ve been meditating for either exactly 21 minutes or 43 minutes. With this simple change, I find I\u2019m meditating more than I have in years.
\nThese numbers aren’t random: 21 minutes is the length of a 30-minute TV show without commercials, and 43 minutes is the true length of a typical hour-long episode.<\/p>\n

Watching TV is effortless, and something our mind doesn’t resist, even when we\u2019re tired. On the other hand, we resist meditation. Our mind tells us we don’t have time for the ritual, even though we could probably dedicate the same number of minutes to watching TV. The average American watches over four hours of TV every day<\/a>\u2014and that doesn’t include time spent in front of other screens.<\/p>\n

Now, whenever I try to justify my way out of an otherwise beneficial meditation session, I’ve asked myself: would I make time to watch an episode of The<\/em> Walking Dead<\/em>, Breaking Bad<\/em>, or Game of Thrones<\/em>? If I could, I have more time to meditate than I think\u201443 minutes, to be exact.<\/p>\n

If I don’t have time for one of those episodes, I’ll ask: could I watch a quick episode of a shorter show, like Arrested Development<\/em>, How I Met Your Mother<\/em>, or Friends<\/em>? If I could, I have time to meditate for 21 minutes.
\nWhen we say we don’t have time for something, what we’re really saying is it\u2019s not a priority, or that we don’t want to do it. This simple mental swap helps you cut through that noise\u2014whether you’re resisting meditation, reading a book, or going for a run. The clock is ticking, and it\u2019s up to you to decide how to spend that time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plenty of time for TV but none for meditation? Think again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy I meditate for either 21 or 43 minutes \u2014 no more, no less - Chris Bailey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Plenty of time for TV but none for meditation? Think again.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/how-to-meditate-everyday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why I meditate for either 21 or 43 minutes \u2014 no more, no less - Chris Bailey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Plenty of time for TV but none for meditation? 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