The most important two minutes in your life

Two minutes here and there rarely matter very much over a day, a week, a lifetime.

But there are two minutes you could spend, right now, that would have a significant impact on your life.

I’ll save you the suspense: it’s two-minute meditation.

And it’s straightforward: take two minutes out of your hectic day (cat videos) to focus on your breath. Just keep the gentle fingertip of your attention on your breath as it comes into your body, and then goes out. When your mind wanders, take note of that, but then gently come back to the breath.

That’s it. No mantra, no emptying the mind, no perfect lotus position, no meditation hall, or guru. Just pay attention to your breath. No need to push thoughts away, just come back.

That might seem too simple to matter much. And in truth, you won’t get miraculous effects after two minutes of meditation. You won’t reach nirvana; you won’t be suddenly calm all day long.

But you will probably feel a little calmer. You will have created a small space of undistractedness in a sea of distraction (Facebook). You will have learned to notice when your random thoughts pull your attention, urge you to check on something.

This is a fantastic start. And if you do these two minutes tomorrow, and the day after that, you suddenly have a few new skills. You can create space between your thoughts and urges, and your reaction. You can create a pause that will cure your procrastination habit.

And the best part: it only takes two minutes a day. If you don’t have two minutes to spare, you might want to loosen up your schedule.