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A most helpful approach to your daily meditation practice is to consider it the most important activity in your day. Schedule it into your day just as you would an extremely important appointment, then do everything you can to keep your appointment.

The reason most people struggle with a daily meditation practice is because they don’t realize how integral to daily life those 20-30 minutes of focused time are. Either you are going to function through the day with a clear mind energized by Spirit energy or you are going to stumble through the day powered by nothing but clunky human energy and a cluttered mind.

Meditation allows you to access your spiritual, more superior self that functions with effortlessness and clarity. Things that seem overwhelming to the human mind are put into perspective by the spiritual mind.

So, meditation actually saves you time. At first, as a beginner it can appear to take a lot of time, but when you understand that it brings clarity to everything you experience in a day, you will be more apt to do it regularly in order to function effectively every day.

Don’t fall into the trap of overdoing it in the beginning. If you jump into meditation expecting to do 20-30 solid minutes of focused meditation daily, you’ll be quickly disappointed with your results.

You will find that mastering even 5 minutes of meditation at the beginning will be hard enough.

Remember that you are forming a new habit and with any new habit there is a period of pain before it becomes a regular practice in your life. So, try to avoid overinflated efforts at the beginning.

Start with something you know you can manage. Aim at getting 3-5 minutes of focused, sitting still time in each day for one week. Most beginners find that this is a manageable way to develop their meditation practice.

If you are successful at doing that keep adding 3-5 minutes until you get yourself up to regularly meditating for 20-30 minutes a day. If you have trouble even getting 5 minutes of solid meditation time a day, you need to step back and take an honest look at what’s really holding you back from making meditation a part of your daily life.

If you have a tough time being accountable to yourself, try tracking your meditation practice. When you do this, your calendar becomes your accountability pal because you make yourself responsible for marking an “X” on every day that you meditate.

Put your calendar in a place where you can look at it every day. Ideally, marking an “X” on the calendar for every day that you meditate should be motivating for you. If the “X” doesn’t motivate you, try a cute sticker or some symbol that inspires you.

It can also be motivating to keep a journal of your meditative experiences. Writing down what you learned or experienced can be something that you look forward to after your meditation practice. If you are a personal growth seeker you will find that looking back on your journal entries can teach you a lot about your own inner journey.

How much TV does the average American watch in a day? The answer: 4-5 hours. If you are considering making meditation a regular part of your life then you must be the type of person that seeks to have a more fulfilling life experience.

Weigh the pros and cons of watching excessive amounts of television. Does watching television benefit your life in a positive way? Does it enable you to be the person you want to be? If your answer is no, consider minimizing your TV viewing time. Replace that time with an activity that will benefit your future, namely, meditation.

Consider meditating with a group on a regular basis. Scout out meditation groups or meditation classes in your community. Being part of a group can give you a feeling of comradery. You might also find it motivational to develop relationships with other people that are interested in enriching their lives through meditation.

If you find it hard motivating yourself to meditate you can hire a mindfulness coach that can help you uncover any unconscious principles that might be holding you back from meditating on a regular basis.

A meditation coach can also assist you with making the most of your meditative time and helping you overcome the common difficulties with meditation. They can also act as an accountability partner for you.

Be easy on yourself. Meditation is never about thinking you have to be good at it. There is no good or bad when it comes to meditation. Meditation just “is.” It isn’t anything more than that. You just need to learn to let it be whatever it is because whatever it is will still be to your benefit.

If you understand the long term purpose of your meditative practice this won’t be a problem.

Find a friend who is also trying to develop a meditation practice. You don’t have to meditate in the same place or at the same time. You just need to be there to keep each other accountable and encourage each other.

There is something about commitment that enables you to remain accountable to your goal. Commit yourself to a daily meditation practice for one month. Break that goal down into achievable weekly goals. Then break that down further into achievable daily goals.

Schedule a time for your meditation. Research has proven that scheduling a specific time to do something makes you eight times more likely to do it.

After you’ve scheduled your meditation into your day, try your best to live in day tight compartments. Don’t look at your one month goal and wonder how you’ll ever get there. Instead focus on what you need to do that day.

Think “same time, same place.” This will help you stay steady in turning your new practice into a fully functioning habit.

Think of another fully established habit you already have working in your life. Pair your meditation practice with that habit. For example, think “go to the gym then meditate” or “meditate, then tea.” This enables you to start making meditation part of your daily routine.

Make sure to be flexible with your routine. Something unexpected can interrupt your daily meditation practice. When this happens realize that not every day will look the same. Simply switch your meditation to a different time. Don’t use this as an excuse to exclude mediation from your day.

After each session, take a moment to consider how you feel and what you gained from your meditation. The sooner you begin to see the benefits, the sooner you will find it easier to maintain a consistent practice.

Daily meditation takes time to develop. Learning how to sit still can be a challenge in itself for the beginner. You might see some immediate results or it might take longer. Remember that developing a regular meditation practice is a life-long skill, not a quick fix.

Usually, maintaining a daily meditation practice is more about the “why” than anything else. Always remind yourself why you are meditating. If you ever find yourself slipping, bring yourself back to your “why.” Write it down if you have to and review it in order to renew your commitment to it.

As a beginner, it is recommended that you follow a guided meditation for several weeks in order to get familiar with the meditative process. Over time you can choose to do whatever type of meditation works best for you.

Some recommended teachers who offer guided meditation CD’s and MP3’s are Louise Hay, Deepak Chopra, Stephen Levine, Jon Kabat Zinn, Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield.

Feel free to keep things fresh by incorporating a variety of meditation techniques into your life. If you prefer however to use one method that works well for you, do that.

Meditation is entirely personal so what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another person. When you take the time to formulate a meditative practice that works well for you it will benefit your life in numerous ways for years to come.