On April 14th, I had about three weeks of university teaching left ahead of me for the spring term. That included giving and grading finals and final projects, listening to juries, and many other loose ends to tie up. That day I sat for a 20 minute mindful awareness meditation, quickly remembering how helpful that time can be in a busy schedule. Then I did it again the next day. After 20 days in a row, I made the decision to continue this pattern. Some days I did a 30-minute resting awareness exercise, and others were only 5 or 10 minutes of breath awareness, but committing to do something everyday made a huge difference.
A cursory google search can turn up plenty of research on habit formation, and the importance of sticking with it for a sustained period of time. Most of the findings seem to indicate that a major key to establishing a successful and lasting habit is setting reasonable goals and holding yourself to them for a pre-determined length of time.
I’d like to add that some flexibility is also crucial to success, along with some self-compassion. Through my 50-day streak, there were days when I was not motivated to meditate, but the knowledge that 5 minutes was still a success was very helpful. If I had held myself to 30 minutes a day, I don’t think I would’ve been as successful.
After 50 straight days of meditation, I noticed serval things. I was quicker to notice my wandering mind, and it was easier to redirect my awareness to the present moment. This increased level of meta awareness was most noticeable while I was enjoying a walk, bike ride, or some time in my kayak. These activities can present many opportunities for the mind to drift into rumination, when I would much rather be enjoying the present moment.
Also, I was quicker to notice when my mind would wander while practicing my horn. The thoughts that arose in this situation where usually unhelpful (often negative), and they regularly accompanied a moment of lesser quality in my playing. By noticing these drifting thoughts more quickly, the resulting quality of my practice sessions stayed much higher.
While formal mindfulness practice every day is not a requirement to gain some of these benefits, my commitment to a daily practice was extremely beneficial. If you are inspired to give this a shot yourself, I strongly encourage you to do so, just remember to show yourself compassion and allow for some flexibility from one day to the next. Make your goal a reasonable one, taking into account your schedule and the amount of time you can commit, and I’m sure you can do it.