I’m Too Busy To NOT Meditate
By Ela Aktay
How many times have you promised yourself that today is the day I take a break and do yoga or meditation only to keep working? One more minute and then I’ll wrap up. Instead you find yourself spinning your wheels, thinking you’re being productive when really you’re still stuck in the same place. Left tired and drained, work still isn’t done, and it’s well past dinnertime.
Sound familiar? Yep, me too. Read on to see how I learned to be too busy to NOT meditate.
Tonight I’m working, and I can feel that familiar pattern creeping in. I tell myself I’ll stop at 5:30 pm, relax, and then do a 6 pm meditation class. I’m focused, I’m on a roll . . . sort of. I’ve been writing an article on The Future of Southwest Asia—not a light topic—and I’m so close to finishing it. I just need to wrap it up and write the concluding paragraph. But I’m stuck. I write and rewrite. I check my email. I check Instagram.
I look at my laptop clock: 5:42 pm. There is no way I’ll get this article done before Chill’s 6 pm class. For god’s sake, it’s a virtual class. Surely I can make that, right? All I need to do is click a link and I’m there. It takes 3 seconds. Ok, I can do it, but I still have some time. I might as well keep working.
Ela’s personal “sit spot” in her home allows her to find comfort + ease while she purposely takes time to pause.
My brain is fried, my shoulders are scrunched up to my ears, and my face is inches away from my monitor. I’m still stuck.
Then I stop. I stand up. I take a deep breath. It’s 5:56 pm. I can just make the class.
I breathe a sigh of relief and walk away from my desk. I grab my iPad and go into another room. I already feel a little bit better.
The Chill screen pops up. Just looking at those blue waves instantly calms me. I let out a deep breath. I think this is the first time I’ve slowed down today. And it feels good.
The instructor appears and introduces herself, speaking in soothing tones. She sets us up for a guided meditation and shares a beautiful quote with us. And before I know it, I’m meditating. Well, first, a hundred thoughts and worries are running through my head but at some point, they clear away. And I have such clarity. Now in this meditative state, I am at ease, and I know what to do and what direction to take on the article I’ve been stuck on. The words are there. I’m essentially writing the rest of the article while meditating.
Ok, I know what you’re thinking, “yeah, right.” Or if you’re not thinking that, you’re thinking, “well that’s crazy,” or “that’s just not even real.” I can’t explain it but it’s real. It happened. I felt so clear and when the meditation was over, I had the solution. I wrote that last paragraph of my article in about 5 minutes—something that was taking me hours to write earlier that day.
Meditation helps me unblock my blocks, making space for that creative voice inside me. So really, I don’t have time to NOT meditate.
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