I started meditating about a month ago. For years, I have heard people that I admire (from Ezra Klein to David Lynch and et cetera) describe the benefits of meditation but haven’t made time for it. Balancing work, family, exercise, writing, reading, and other life stuff is already challenging enough. It is difficult to imagine making time for doing nothing.

What changed is that I recently went through a period of depression and anxiety. I could not control my thoughts. I spent much time ruminating and getting emotional about things that I couldn’t control. I felt bleak and hopeless. I started seeing a therapist, who nudged me gently toward mindfulness. When I was able to stop thinking about the things that were making me anxious for a few minutes, I noticed that things were actually okay. Not only that, the universe seemed more inspiring and beautiful.

As I decided to start meditating, I was not confident that I would be able to sit with my thoughts. I started with one minute per day. I know that it would not be enough but I also knew that I could manage it. After a few days, I doubled it to two minutes, then increased to five minutes. The gradual increase helped me manage my anxiety about the practice. If I knew that I could meditate for two minutes, then five minutes wouldn’t be that different.

As I was beginning, I tried using Headspace. While I did have a few successful sessions with the app, I ended up cancelling it after the trial period. I found that the voices of the guides were sometimes distracting and out of sync with the quiet that was important to soothing my mind.

Now I am up to about twenty minutes per day, depending on how much time I have. I try not to have an agenda for the time. I start by taking deep breaths and paying attention to the way the breath feels in my lungs and stomach. I attend to the physical sensations of my chair and the surrounding environment. When thoughts arrive, I acknowledge them and then turn back to my breath. (“I notice that I’m thinking about work. That makes sense but I can think about it later.”) The present moment is somehow capacious and beautiful, always waiting for me again when I come back to it.