Without further ado, let me share that my first spiritual practice for 2026 is meditation! There are a few reasons why I decided to start here. First – almost every spiritual book I’ve read and every blog I’ve listened to touts the importance of meditation. Why? I’m honestly not sure, but I’m hoping I’ll have a better answer to that question by the end of this month. Despite some mediocre efforts on my part, I’ve never really been able to “get into” meditation. My thoughts wander, I don’t feel any benefits, I don’t have the time, I feel weird doing it. The excuses go on and on. I figured I could keep making excuses forever, or give it a real try.
Second – I decided to lean-in to my astrology for 2026. I asked ChatGPT to give me a reading for each month of 2026, and would align my spiritual practice for that month with the astrological energy of each month. I learned that January is a month for introspection and realignment. Setting the tone for the rest of the year using quiet reflection and listening, not acting. Given this theme, starting a meditation practice this month felt very fitting. And so I did.
Typically I would turn to guided meditations, but rather decided to find a good meditation playlist and just quiet my mind. 10 minutes a few times a week. Totally doable. I didn’t want to overcommit and fail right out of the gate.
So Monday last week, during my lunch break, I found a calming playlist on Spotify, removed my watch and muted all devices, set my phone timer and settled down in front of my blazing fireplace into meditation.
And how did it go? Surprisingly well! I enjoyed it! It felt good. Really good. When my timer went off, I wanted to continue (and did!). This was really surprising to me, especially considering one of my recurring thoughts throughout the meditation was that I’m not good at this. If I’m being totally honest, “not being good at it” is probably the biggest excuse for why I simply couldn’t get into it.
So far I’ve learned that being good at meditating has no bearing on its enjoyability. I ended up meditating several more times throughout the week with a similar experience. When my timer went off, I didn’t want to stop. It might sound silly, but this was a bit of a breakthrough for me. When I was open to the practice and took the pressure off myself to “do it right”, I found that I enjoyed it and wanted more of it.
More insights to come. Feel free to join me in this practice.