Missed Mantras.

I've got a little lapse with my meditation recently, which is stupid really as it's one of the most beneficial things I do.

 While I used to go to classes and have turned to various sources online for guided meditations in the past, by far my most frequent port of call is the app Headspace, which I've subscribed to for a couple of years now and would highly recommend to people from either end of the experience spectrum, from novice to guru. Anyone put off by the thought of a paid-for app would soon be bowled over by the amount of content available and how good it all is. As someone prone to suffer from insomnia in the past, I'd say it's almost worth subscribing just for for the meditation to aid sleep alone, which I used almost daily until recently, and have seldom remained conscious throughout; it's like audio chloroform.

 One way Headspace encourages you is by keeping track of how many days straight you've practised, as a kind of showing-off-to-yourself incentive. I find this sort of thing both good and bad as it's nice to feel you're keeping on top of it, though at the same time, it can make you feel you've let the side down when you miss a session or two.

 Thanks to Headspace, I managed to keep up daily meditation for at least two years (which is no mean feat) though this started to slip over the past few weeks as life got in the way. I'm frustrated by this, which somehow compounds it, as while it doesn't mean anything if I miss a day or two, someone like me who's very hard on themselves can't help but measure themselves by what they didn't do against what they did. 

 All I need do is get back in the habit and not just turn to it when I'm looking to focus my mind before a gig. Meditation's such a force for good, it shouldn't be forgotten. I'd recommend it to anyone asks; it's just a shame no-one asks me.

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