Increase Focus with This One Minute Meditation

Does the term meditation make you instantly seize up? I do. I'm guessing I'm not alone on this one.

And yet meditation really can help ease the symptoms of anxiety and other various mental health issues, including the common one of struggling with focus. Hmm. What to do? How about making the act of meditating easier and shorter? Short is good.

You Can Do Anything for One Minute, Including Meditation

Here's a one minute meditation that literally can't be done wrong, except by not doing it.

1. Set a timer for one minute (use your phone) -- One minute meditating can seem like forever. But we can endure almost anything for one minute -- a mere 60 seconds. Science tells us this must be true.
2. Sit or stand comfortably -- If sitting, rest your hands on your thighs or in your lap.
3. Take a deep breath -- Blow it out slowly and as completely as you can.
4. Focus on your breathing -- When breathing in, tell yourself, "I'm breathing in." Breathing out say, "I'm breathing out."
5. Label thoughts -- Here's the hard part, but only for one minute. Your attention will wander away from your breath, perhaps instantly. When you notice this, focus it back on your breath. How long you can focus on your breathing is completely irrelevant.
6. Quit when the timer goes off -- Don't think about it again until the next time.
7. Repeat 1-2 times per day.
8. Bonus tip -- Actually use a timer. It makes it more real, yet somehow more endurable.

Doing this once a day makes you a rock star. Doing it twice a day makes you a godlike, super, rock star. I know which one I'd rather be. Do you?

Okay, you're right. Being a rock star is plenty.

You can find Greg on his website, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and Facebook.