Meditation has always been difficult for me. I think I've tried different techniques more than a few times and always came away feeling like a failure. I have been especially unsuccessful with anything that focuses on breath work. So after a while I changed my focus to very very simple mindfulness type exercises--doing a simple everyday task and being very focused on being in the moment. One of the most simple was washing dishes. It is something I do every night and I gritted my teeth and focused on being in the moment--concentrating on the physical sensations of the act. I was moderately successful but because I'm often rushed to finish because I want to watch the news or go for an after dinner walk, I easily fell out of mindfulness

Then I realized that I did a simple task every single day that would fit perfectly and I did it early in the morning before anyone else in the house was awake. I sweep my front and back patio (I live in the southwest and have two large trees on my patios and they are constantly dropping leaves and the birds leave seeds from the feeder galore). So I started to sweep mindfully. It was HARD! In the past, I'd start sweeping and before you know it my brain would be racing along; I'd be having conversations with people who I wanted to address something with or I'd be listing all the things I had to do that day. Each time, I'd purposefully and firmly bring myself back to the physical act of sweeping. Sound silly. It sure felt like it. But guess what? I've been doing it for 2 years, 4 months now and I've finally hit my stride. I can perform the task, which takes about 40 minutes without letting my brain take over and railroad me into crazy talk. I really enjoy sweeping now. It's my quiet time.

The other thing I've started is taking the last fifteen minutes of my daily power walk and concentrating solely on being mindful of the sounds around me. For the main part of my walk, I have headphones on blaring upbeat music in my ear to motivate the speed of my walk. But at the end of the walk, I take off the headphones and listen to the sounds of the birds (not identifying, "Oh, that's a Thrusher or that one is a Jay.") I simply concentrate on the sound.

Am I meditating? Not in the way a lot of books recommend, but I have achieved a place where my brain is silent and focused. There is a peacefulness to it. My mind isn't rushing ahead to what I'm going to do next and it's not delving into what happened last night or twenty years ago when I was upset or angry about something and want to somehow make it right. I am comfortably just in my body. I found that "sitting quietly" counting my breath was too taxing for me personally, but I can achieve a place of quiet in other ways. It does take a LOT of time and effort, but it's worth it!