Timebox to meditate (3 of 5)
Still my beating mind
Today is Valentine’s Day.
Of course, Romance x Timeboxing = Date night. That Date night post was the most appealing I’ve written — 70% of you opened it. The principle really is timeboxing 101: make a commitment, while your head is clear, to do something which you know is important and enriching, like time with a beloved (but perhaps overlooked) partner.
We’re continuing the MR ELF (Meditation, Reading, Exercise, Learning, Friends) theme and it’s meditation today. Obviously, timeboxing a slot to meditate is a sensible move. Indeed, this applies to all the MR ELF activities. But with meditation, the connection with timeboxing runs deeper.
I’m not a meditation expert, but it’s played a reasonably major part in my life. For me, meditation has two clearly appealing and straightforwardly practical benefits.
The first is to give our brain a break. We work that organ so hard. So let’s give it a chance to relax every so often (don’t leave it at that, timebox it). ‘Still my beating mind’ pleads Prospero to Ferdinand and Miranda in The Tempest. He needed to meditate.
The second is to know our minds better. What thoughts occur to you when you still your beating mind? What emerges from the ether of your consciousness? Some random stuff (but is it really random?), a troubling thought, a new idea, a different perspective, this person, that person…what on earth could be more fascinating? And to think we have free access to this captivating, illuminating content whenever we choose.
There’s a chapter in the book called As mindfulness. I suggest there that timeboxing and mindfulness are close cousins; they are both ultimately the practice of setting an intention and seeing it through, though the path may be buzzing with distractions. Get better at timeboxing and you’ll be better at meditating, and vice versa.
Find some time to be mindful of love, today.
🧩 There are three consecutive words above that I’ve never used before to spotlight timeboxing but do a very good job of it. They’re at the end of one of the pararaphs. Can you spot them?
[That rather nice image is from DALL·E 3, usin the prompt ‘give me an image that combines a heart with mindfulness / meditation. i need a 4:3 aspect ratio please.’]