When Is It Worth Doing?

Only you can decide.

This morning, like every morning, I sat in meditation for 15 minutes. From the point of view that meditation is about eliminating your ego and thoughts, it wasn’t a very good session. I had a lot of thoughts—about work, about reviewing a friend’s book, about old movies and TV shows.

And while I managed to reset and switch topics a few times, I could never quite let go altogether. Finally, I remembered: “You don’t have to think this thought.” In that moment, whatever was on my mind at the time quietly faded away, and my brain could take a deep breath. Not enter Nirvana or anything, but there was a tiny bit of space—and of course, right in that moment, the timer rang, and life went on.

15 minutes for five seconds of inner peace. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Nik

Niklas Göke writes for dreamers, doers, and unbroken optimists. A self-taught writer with more than a decade of experience, Nik has published over 2,000 articles. His work has attracted tens of millions of readers and been featured in places like Business Insider, CNBC, Lifehacker, and many others. Nik has self-published 2 books thus far, most recently 2-Minute Pep Talks. Outside of his day job and daily blog, Nik loves reading, video games, and pizza, which he eats plenty a slice of in Munich, Germany, where he resides.