Life is busy! Managing business, family, social and financial obligations sometimes feels like it’s too much to handle. So many of us feel like we are just trying to keep our heads above water – we rarely take time for lunch, much less time to take care of ourselves spiritually and emotionally.
But what if it didn’t have to be a big time commitment – just 9 minutes a day – and better still, what if these 9 minutes could truly enable us to de-stress, increase our productivity and find more presence and peace in our everyday lives?
I know, 9 minutes a day sounds too good to be true. But this little practice that I call 3×3 Meditation (3 minutes, 3 times a day) dug me out of clinical depression and chronic overwhelm into living my dream life.
How could so little time do so much? Good question. When I began meditating I was in the depths of depression and heavy alcohol addiction. Sitting still for more than 3 minutes at a time was intolerable, so instead I would sit for 3 minutes several times a day to try and get enough meditation time under my belt to experience even a glimpse of inner peace.
What ended up happening was much, much greater than I ever expected. These 3-minute meditations gave me access to an inner source of power, peace, and intuitive wisdom that I’d never known was there before. It’s easier and simpler to access than many of us might think. There are many, many different types and uses for meditation, as well as many misconceptions about meditation out there. Let’s see about disproving some common misconceptions:
Misconception #1: Meditation takes a lot of time. I used to think the same thing! I never had time to meditate for hours on end so I never tried it until I hit rock bottom in my own life. I realized that by meditating for shorter periods throughout the day, meditation wasn’t something to check off my To Do List, it was a touch point of inner power and wisdom I was accessing constantly and consistently all day long. And in doing just that, I was having a profound impact on my way of thinking – that place of inner peace wasn’t something I accessed once a day, it became the space I began to live my life from.
Misconception #2: Meditation isn’t practical for real-world results. Actually, t’s been my experience that my inner connection within meditation needs to come before anything in my outer world changes. Shorter bursts of super-focused mini-meditation breaks can have profound impact on our physical wellness, weight release, improving relationships, and creating financial stability and a business we love. I interviewed Dr. Bruce Lipton (best-selling author of “The Biology of Belief” and well-regarded cell biologist) about the power of mini-meditations and he explained to me that shorter, focused meditation breaks work to constantly and consistently interrupt our subconscious programming so we can begin to think differently, creating new neuropathways in our brains – and thinking differently is the precursor to finding peace and creating transformation.
Misconception #3: Finding time to meditate is a luxury, not a necessity. Many people have told me “I’ll start meditating when the kids go to college … or when I no longer have to work three jobs … or when I finally get my divorce finalized…” as though a meditation practice needs to be undertaken when life is less chaotic than it might be at present. But that’s the beauty of meditation – it is very, very effective during a crisis and can be incorporated at any time. In fact, when my life gets hectic, the first thing I do is commit even more strongly to my meditation practice. As I find my inner peace and intuitive guidance first, I can navigate everything else more smoothly.
There are so many amazing meditation methods – I believe there is something for everyone. If you haven’t committed to trying it, why don’t you immerse yourself in a practice that resonates, just for seven days? You can try mini-meditations, guided meditations, longer meditations – whatever feels like a good fit for you. Once we learn how to harness the inner wisdom within, everything in our lives gets better!
-Dina Proctor Omvana Author
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Dina Proctor is a mind-body connection expert, inspirational speaker and author of “How I Went From Hell to Happy in Nine Minutes a Day.” Dina has taken her journey from hitting an emotional rock bottom through struggling with addictions, food issues and suicidal depression, to having now found a consistent happiness and turned it into a simple, practical method for others to change their own lives. You can visit her website at www.dinaproctor.com
