Why We Don’t Take Our Own Best Advice

You know that piece of advice that you find yourself doling out to everyone else…and maybe, possibly, you aren’t exactly practicing it yourself?

For me, it’s meditation.

As I shared earlier this week, I need to fucking meditate every day, AND it’s hard to fucking meditate every day.

If you’ve ever tried to build a new daily habit, you know exactly what I mean.

Meanwhile, there isn’t a single person I’ve worked with — as their coach, yoga teacher, copywriter, campaign staff, or anything else — who I haven’t advised to meditate.

I mean, it’s amazing for you! Meditation is good for the nervous system, helps us connect with our own wisdom, and makes us kinder, more patient people.

But maybe, possibly, I’m not exactly practicing it myself. At least not consistently.

In fact, it wasn’t until six years into my time as a yoga teacher that I stopped resisting a regular practice. I even shelled out some cold, hard cash for an online course to get myself started.

I kept up a daily practice for a few months, but that went out the window when COVID hit. Since then, I’ve had stretches of consistency, but also some months where my habit tracker app reports that I practiced only a handful of times.

Anyway, my opening question about our own advice that we don’t always take isn’t meant to shame you or me.

It’s intended to point out that actually, we are pretty fucking smart cookies who already know what we need to do!

So what gets in the way?

Our old friend, resistance.

Resistance can sound like some of these thoughts (maybe you’re familiar?):

“If I don’t [meditate/journal/exercise/etc.] for exactly X amount of time every day, it doesn’t count, so why bother?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing, so I should just stop trying.”

“That person over there is doing it better than I ever could, so it’s not worth my effort.”

“I don’t have time.”

“I’m too tired.”

The good news? Your resistance showing up is an opportunity to work with it and move beyond your current perceived limitations of what you’re capable of achieving.

Right now, for example, I’m working with my resistance by letting go of what I think “counts” as my meditation practice. If I sit for 2 minutes a day, that’s enough!

So back to that piece of your own wise advice that you’re not taking…

What does your resistance around this thing sound and feel like?

What would your wisest, most loving adult self say in response to that resistance?

And what is a teeny, tiny baby step that you could take right now to move forward?