Meditate for five minutes.

“I wish I could tell you I took to meditation like a duck to water, but the truth is, I spent most of the first two weeks thinking about everything except meditation. I didn’t use guided sessions to start with - partly out of stubbornness, partly because I assumed five minutes was too short to need help - and instead just sat quietly with my thoughts. And by “quietly,” I mean not quietly at all. My brain treated those early sessions like a brainstorming meeting. Did I reply to that email? Does that invoice look passive-aggressive? Should I defrost something for dinner? Why is my left toe tingling? There were days I opened my eyes at the five-minute timer and realised I hadn’t “meditated” at all, I had simply thought, uninterrupted, for 300 seconds.”

“Wow ok so I’m currently dealing with depression and anxiety. I sometimes struggle with socializing and I was recommended to try meditation, so I set a five minute timer and just did breathing and focusing on my breathing and I just felt myself being compassionate to myself for the first time in I don’t even know how long. I was thinking things like “I’m gonna be ok, in a few years I’ll look back and not even recognize where I was.” I felt a big weight lift off my shoulders and like I felt like everything will be ok. Meditation is truly life changing.”

“In my experience, the first few days of meditating were tough, even at five minutes. But like literally everything, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. You’ll have good days, bad days, and strings thereof, but I’ve found that the longer I practice the shallower those low points become. The most surprising thing to me was how quickly I saw changes in my life. I hesitate to mention this because it’s different for everyone, but after two weeks of five to ten minutes per day I noticed a significant change in my outlook on the world. I have subsequently felt more in control of my life than I ever have previously, and the confidence this has given me cannot be overstated.”