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Finding time to meditate is probably the best thing you can do to improve your health and happiness. Finding the best time to meditate will help you to have a more fulfilling, healthy life.
If you are wondering if there is a “best time to meditate” during the day, the answer is yes!
While there isn't one single time that is a perfect fit for everyone, there are a few good options for introducing meditation into your everyday life. There are benefits to most times in the day for meditation, and also one that you should be careful about.
Like any part of learning more about yourself, finding the right way to meditate will take some effort. Everyone has a different life, and most of us are very busy during the day. Feeling pressed for time only makes us more stressed out, so it is a smart idea to create your own space for meditation.
(Side note: One proven way to improve your happiness and life satisfaction is to focus on goals that truly matter. To get started, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.).
Let's look at some of your options for meditation during the day, and also some simple ways to introduce meditation into your lifestyle. If you need some ideas on the basics of meditation, please have a look at this blog post. We are here to help you get the most out of your positive energy and want you to find the best tools for personal growth.
What You Will Learn
Option 1: Morning Could Be the Best Time to Meditate
Everyone starts the day by getting out of bed. The time right after waking could be a great opportunity for meditation. You can even meditate before you drink coffee, and help your body to wake up without loads of stimulants.
After the hustle and bustle of the day begins, it can be challenging to find time to set aside for meditation. By creating a morning meditation ritual, you can be sure that you have time to meditate every day.
There is nothing that says that morning will be an ideal time for meditation, but it does have some unique advantages.
To begin with, you probably have a lot of freedom when it comes to when and how you wake up in the morning. Getting up half an hour early might not sound amazing, but it gives you extra time to meditate for a little while.
The early morning hours also tend to be free from distractions. You probably won't have to deal with loads of phone calls or messages at daybreak, which makes it a good time to meditate and create some peace in your mind.
Make Morning Gratefulness Meditation a Part of Your Day
We think that gratefulness meditation is one of the best ways to start meditating. There is no bad time to be grateful, but doing grateful meditation first thing in the morning has some distinct advantages.
Your waking from a night's sleep marks the beginning of a new day, and you can be grateful for that!
It is important to understand that your morning gratefulness meditation session can be relatively short. Setting aside 10 or 15 minutes to meditate is just fine. In addition to the gift of a new day, you can also meditate on how grateful you are for other positive things in your life.
We aren't saying that morning is your only option for meditation, but it is certainly one of them. Starting the day with a big dose of gratefulness and mindfulness will absolutely help you to have a brighter outlook for the day, and be much happier about what you have to accomplish with your time.
Option 2: A Lunchtime Meditation Break
When you work a full-time job, the lunch hour may be a good time to meditate in your day. Meditation during the day can help you to drop stress and maintain your focus all day long.
The morning can be a stressful time at work. You probably have to deal with meetings, difficult people, and problems that need to be worked through. Taking part of your lunch hour to meditate will help your mind to break out of the stress cycle that can dominate your thinking, and refocus your energy in a more positive direction.
Gratefulness meditation can be a good fit for a lunch hour meditation session, but there are other kinds of meditation that can also be useful. Here are a few other kinds of meditation that could be a perfect fit!
Loving Kindness for You and Your Coworkers
Professional relationships can be downright stressful. Loving-kindness meditation during your lunch hour will help you to focus on compassion, and let go of any ill will that might be lingering after a rough morning.
The core of loving-kindness meditation is feeling compassion and forgiveness for yourself and others. Bringing these powerful, positive forces to your workplace will help you deal with stress, and not get caught up in foolishness.
Mindfulness Meditation to Focus on You
It is easy to get sucked into workplace drama. Hiding our true feelings takes up a lot of energy, and doesn't deal with the stress or negative emotions that can snowball out of control. Taking some time for mindfulness meditation on your lunch hour can give you the space to feel deeply, and deal with any trouble before you are really angry.
Both mindfulness meditation and loving-kindness are powerful tools for positive change and can be used whenever you need to create a peaceful energy in your life. Try introducing a 10-minute mindfulness meditation session to your lunch hour, and see what happens with your professional relationships and stress level. You won't be disappointed with the results.
Option 3: On-Demand Stress Relief!
It might sound like an obvious thing to say, but the ideal time to meditate could be when you start feeling stressed. If you have been doing any amount of mindfulness meditation, you are probably able to spot your stress response coming from a mile away.
You can take a break to meditate when you start to feel anxious, tired or angry. We don't always have the ability to just stop what we are doing and do a full meditation, but some basic breathwork and focusing on self-control can do wonders.
If you are able to take a 10-minute break, some mindfulness meditation can also be a good route to avoiding escalating emotional turmoil. Of course, the more time you are able to cultivate peace, the better. It isn't always going to be easy to create personal space, but it is worth the effort.
Many people become overwhelmed by thoughts of what needs to be done.
By making space for mindfulness and loving-kindness, we become more effective when we do need to act. The next time you start to feel overwhelmed, try your current favorite meditation technique. It will help you to deal with the situation, no matter what is going on around you.
Option 4: Meditation After Work
Lots of people like to go out to a bar after work, but taking the time to do a meditation session is a much better idea for your health and happiness. For people that work in a ‘9 to 5' environment, the end of the day can be stress-filled and trying.
The level of your fatigue can become difficult to cope with, especially as the week goes by. Taking a meditation break after work helps to let go of whatever happened during the workday, and also drop the level of stress in your life.
Creating a clear boundary between your work and home life is very healthy.
If you are able to take half an hour for yourself once you are home after work, it could be a great time for some meditation. You have to work to support yourself, but you don't have to let the work you do follow you around until bedtime.
Try Some Transcendental Meditation After Work
When you are done working for the day, it is a great time to create a clean, peaceful mind. Transcendental meditation is one way to cultivate inner peace, and it could be the perfect way for you to calm down as your evening starts.
Transcendental meditation helps to focus your awareness on a peaceful inner world, which makes it a good way to stop your mind from running through the day's events on an endless loop. Your evening should be for you and your loved ones, not the baggage that your mind can carry over from your professional life.
In addition to helping you create a peaceful mind, transcendental meditation probably helps your body to calm the sympathetic nervous system, which is in charge of your fight or flight response.
People who practice transcendental meditation are less likely to experience cardiovascular illnesses linked to stress, like heart attacks or strokes. Introducing an after-work transcendental meditation session to your day will help you feel better, and may also help you avoid serious health risks.
Bedtime May Not be the Best Time to Meditate
One time of the day that probably isn't ideal for meditation is immediately before you go to sleep. Meditation before bedtime can become mixed-up with going to sleep, which isn't the goal of meditation.
If you want to meditate your way to dreamland it certainly isn't dangerous. Meditating is better for you than drinking alcohol until you pass out, but you may not be getting the same benefits from meditation before bed that you would at another time in your day.
For those of you that want to practice some evening meditation, it would be smart to choose a form of meditation that is focused on relaxation. Simply finding a comfortable position and relaxing each part of your body could prove rewarding, and it will also help you to calm down before you sleep.
Finding the Right Meditation Schedule for Your Life
It won't be hard to find a great time for meditation in your life.
If you are just getting into meditation, or are interested in starting, it is important to have reasonable goals. Doing 10 minutes of meditation every day is a lot better than thinking about doing it, and never taking action to make meditation a reality in your life.
You can meditate more than once a day as well. Transcendental meditation generally practiced twice a day for optimum results. As we mentioned above, meditation is a great way to let go of your stress before you are dealing with emotional overload.
Look for time to meditate, and make it a habit. We collect plenty of bad habits in this life, but meditation is one of the best ones there is to cultivate on a daily basis. There is no doubt that meditating will help you de-stress, which will help your quality of life to improve significantly as you meditate more often.
What is YOUR Favorite Time to Meditate
Once you see how positive meditation can be in your life, you will be able to create time for meditation during your day. The most important thing is to actually begin to meditate so that you become accustomed to stilling your body and mind.
If you would like to learn more about the basics of meditation, please read this article we put together. It is a practical guide to meditation and also discusses meditation techniques in more detail.
There is no way to know what the best time to meditate is for you, but you will create peace and mindfulness in your life as you find the perfect time for you!
Finally, one proven way to improve your happiness and life satisfaction is to focus on goals that truly matter. To get started, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.
