I started meditating a whole lot more once I stopped trying to do it perfectly.
What I realized is that a quiet corner, meditation pillow, and chunk of uninterrupted time aren’t required.
What’s required is an intention. Period.
Now, I meditate while walking, driving, waiting in lines, you name it…
What the intention does is declare to your mind that you’re now entering a different way of being. Without it, your mind will unconsciously continue to rambunctiously act non-meditatively—as it always does.
It’s like flipping a mind switch.
Once that switch is turned on and the light of your consciousness turns inward, you can begin to notice the urges that come up (that try to break you away from your meditation/presence), and focus on returning to your practice for as long as you may.
And suddenly, once you realize that a flip of the switch is all that’s required, meditation goes from another task you try to stressfully add to your already busy day—to an easily-intertwined-throughout-your-whole-day kind of task.
There are so many applications for this strategy in life.
P.s. When I do sit down to meditate, I use brain.fm to filter out invasive external noises. I’m a raving fan and currently on a 20-week use streak.