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To meditate, just sit quietly and focus your attention on the breath. These instructions are so simple, but is meditation easy? Absolutely not. Learning to focus on the present moment means learning to observe and accept all the stuff that comes up: thoughts, feelings, sounds, itches, aches, pains, judgements, and more. They all feel like obstacles to meditation, but the truth is they are part of meditation practice. They arise in the present moment, you watch them come up, and allow them to go without engaging with them or judging them. This is so much easier said than done!

Your approach to meditation and the attitudes you bring to practice go a long way to helping you learn to sit with everything that comes up. Over the next four weeks, I want to introduce you to four practical tools to make practice easier. This week’s tool: Diligence.

The benefits of meditation come with regular practice. Ideally, you want to sit every day, even if only for a few minutes. The more regular the practice, the more it pays off.

But establishing daily practice can be difficult. There are so many things to blame when we fail to stick to our planned practice schedule. I don’t have time, my kids/pets/boss/spouse/in-laws/friends/etc. did something that interrupted me or required my immediate attention, I was too tired, I just didn’t feel like it, I had a bad day… and the list goes on.

Diligence is about creating an intention to do something and following through on that intention even in the face of obstacles. Being diligent takes effort, and it won’t happen unless you decide your practice is a priority in your life.

But, diligence is also important when things are going well. When your meditations are calm and relaxing, you might be tempted to become complacent about your practice and let it slide. Persistence is needed to maintain the habit in this situation, too.

Three ways to practice diligence:

1. Bob and weave around obstacles.

Before canceling a meditation session, strive to find an alternative. You might choose to:

a. Move your practice to a different place - I once planned to meditate on a Sunday afternoon, but my husband had invited some friends over to watch a game. It was too noisy to meditate with them in the house, so I went across the street to the park and sat on the grass to meditate.

If it’s noise you’re trying to get away from, consider other alternatives, too: earplugs, noise-canceling headphones, playing nature sounds to mask outside noise, etc. And, don’t forget, you don’t need a place that is 100% distraction-free. Sitting with distractions, noticing how you react to them, is part of the practice.

b. Practice at a different time - I routinely practice at my desk just before my workday begins. A few weeks ago, a colleague popped by for an impromptu chat and used up my meditation time. I decided that I’d sit right after work, instead. I scheduled a reminder on my phone so I wouldn’t forget.

As soon as you know you need to reschedule, do it. Don’t wait to figure it out later, because you’ll forget. If you need to, give yourself a reminder. A sticky note, an alarm on your phone, an email to yourself - whatever it takes.

c. Practice in a different way - Imagine your boss asks you to travel across town to attend a late-day meeting. Your whole schedule is thrown off and you know your after-work meditation won’t happen. Why not practice walking and driving meditation on the way to the meeting? Put your full attention on walking to your car, then put your full attention on driving.

This strategy involves swapping a mindful activity of daily living for your sitting meditation.