A 10:30 p.m. bed time was a little early for me. Especially with the anticipation of possible snow days keeping me awake. But although I did not complete the challenge once this week (oops), I always went to bed before 11 p.m. I say that’s good enough because without this challenge I know I would have gone to bed at around midnight.

Last week’s challenge was supposed to be restful, and it was, but this week I would like to try another restful challenge: meditation. I read about it in today’s Parade magazine and it sounded pretty appealing. The article said that it does not matter how or where you meditate, just as long as you are focusing your mind. You can even meditate lying down, which sounds pretty good after a long day at school. Therefore, our challenge this week is to meditate 3 times.

The article in Parade said that 20 minutes of daily meditation is ideal, but for our purposes, I think just warming up to the idea will be beneficial. This challenge is meant to be fun, so if you are really excited about meditating, first calm down, and then try some of these extra challenges:

• make a schedule. Meditation is supposed to be free spirited, but with busy schedules it is best to have a plan.
• add some music. Try this on meditation #3. If you can maintain mental focus while listening to some claming music, you are truly the master of meditating. I suggest listening to some Jonathan Elias.
• watch your attitude. Keep track of how you feel after meditating. Are you nicer to your parents? More focused while studying? What you find may cause you to make meditation a part of your daily routine.

The positive effect of meditation have recently been proven in a University of North Carolina study, which said that people who meditated 20 minutes daily had 10 times more focus than those that did not meditate. The results are proven, so let’s go out this week, focus our minds, improve our attitudes and conquer this challenge!