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THE DYNAMICS OF MEDITATION
will be loaded or bombarded with all your obligations. So make a peaceful time for yourself. Decide that you are entitled to twenty-four minutes a day just for yourself. Aren't you entitled to allow yourself one minute of peace for each hour of the day? If you feel that it is absolutely impossible for you to find twenty-four minutes for yourself in a day, this does not suggest that meditation is not for you, but that meditation is a necessity for you. If your priorities are so arranged that you cannot carve out a brief period each day to come to yourself, your priorities need reordering.
You may give the rest of the day to your family, your friends, your business or your work, but give the gift of this time for meditation to yourself. It is a time to be with yourself. Forget about what you gain or don't gain. This thought itself creates tension and there can be no attention when there is tension. Give freely to yourself this gift of time and remind yourself that for this twenty-four minutes you have nothing to do. These are a few minutes of leisure and pleasure, simply to feel what you feel inside.
If you choose the same time every day to meditate, your body will gradually adjust to this new schedule. If you enjoy a cup of coffee every day at three o'clock, then you will begin to feel sleepy as that time approaches. Your body is reminding you to have your coffee. Our body's reactions are nothing but a series of habits. It will adjust itself to any new habit we form Nothing is impossible. Some things may be difficult and may take time, but with awareness and persistence, any new pattern can be formed. Then your body will be your friend and it will even remind you each day that your time for meditation has arrived.
