I started to meditate for two reasons. At first an ongoing restless feeling, second as I realised the overwhelming number of people I admire that have integrated meditation to their lifestyle.
Journey then started at the crossroad of as curiosity and necessity. This page is used as a journal for record keeping of practice and observations.
How I started
To integrate meditation to my life, I used once again my Priority concept, initially focusing on a 10 minutes daily morning session. I made the conscious effort of keeping up the absolute Priority to stick to this practice until I started to genuinely observe the benefits of meditation – more than 5 weeks in my case – and it is now a genuine habit.
I use meditation as an opportunity to reset my emotional compass. This helps me to tackle the daily challenges with much more attention which leads to an measurable increase in productivity. Meditation also helps me to keep a more relaxed mind. This leads to two measurable improvements: improved focus (ability to stay on a task despite ongoing thoughts) and sharp drop in irritability (I had similar observations, namely on irritability following reframing of sleep – future post to come).
With practice I observe thoughts patterns that occurs whenever I don’t take time to meditate. Some recurring “stress points” – usually work related – would tend to come up and disturb my actions and thought process. I tried to tackle this restlessness a few years ago by increasing the intensity of my physical practice (boxing, running, cycling…) yet although the tiredness helped to put me asleep, it did not offer genuine peace of mind. Whenever I discuss my meditation practice with non practitioners, they tend to identify with those patterns.
Should you start to meditate?
I would recommend to anyone to give a try to meditation. The ground for this is the immense benefit it has been bringing to my everyday life. However, I am not convinced that meditation is for everyone and you may find your peace of mind in other activities, be it physical (running for instance) or more creative (like music practice).
Note: this post in an ongoing work and I plan to edit it on a regular basis, as & when my mediation practice evolves
When: morning, first thing after I get up and evening (either before diner or before reading); everyday
How: focus on the breath
Props I use: Headspace app, a good yoga mat, and a towel to sit up more comfortably
References
Personal Optimum 
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