Serenity Now!

In the mental health field, everywhere you turn someone is talking about the importance of meditation and/or mindfulness.  It seems to pop up every week in a new study that shows positive results for a different mental health symptom.  I mention it to so many of my clients.  I wrote about it on here a few years ago even. So why isn't everyone meditating yet?  We want serenity now!  (This is a hat tip to Seinfeld--a TV show back in the day--but it works even if you don't get the reference!)  Just the other day I had a client say, "I tried meditating once.  it didn't work."   I hear things like this regularly.  I am curious what we are thinking it is going to do....all of a sudden....in that moment. I think there is something powerful about consistently practicing for a few minutes a day.  Sitting and doing nothing but being.  Just BE.  I know it is a foreign concept to not be DOing something.  Just do nothing but BE for 2 minutes.  Your mind will wander.  Don't worry about that....don't judge that....just notice that.  If you want more instructions, I wrote some ideas in that previous post.  There are no rules for the meditation, though.  Let go of the rules.  Figure out your own way or style of sitting quietly for a couple minutes each day, without a physical distraction.  Let this practice evolve however you'd like.  The difference in meditating daily is often quite subtle.  The idea is to find your sweet spot of a regular practice that comes naturally for you, like brushing your teeth.