Why This New Years is a Unique Time to Start Meditating

I felt embarrassed. Each new year I committed to begin meditating. Each new year I had to admit my failure. This year however, I will mark January 1st with my 1,200th day of daily meditation. I can only assume the false starts were necessary.

While New Years has long been a time for new habits, this one provides a unique chance to begin meditating.

The popularity of starting new habits with “Temporal Landmarks” like the start of a new year was confirmed in a 2014 study. Researchers from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania found that google searches for the word “diet” increased by 80% on January 1st.

The authors of this paper argued that milestones like the beginning of a year help mark the passage of time, creating new mental accounts, or “clean slates”. In doing so, these landmarks “relegate past imperfections to a previous period, induce people to take a big-picture view of their lives, and thus motivate aspirational behaviours.” If there was ever a year to relegate to the past, it is 2020.

If you are going to invest in one new habit this year, why choose meditation? For me, it has been a keystone habit that helped me improve many areas of my life. The strongest endorsement I can give is to still be meditating daily more than three years later ( described here). Beyond my personal take, thousands of studies have shown mindfulness meditation improves mental and physical health, including by improving sleep, creativity, relationships, and stress management.

A new year is also, for many of us, surrounded by the down-time needed to put in the hard work of moving from willpower-driven goal to automatic habit. For better or for worse, this Xmas holidays will have even more down-time. We’re spending less time travelling, shopping at malls, and hosting massive dinners. This will give you the time and space to set up a meditation routine, and start to see the benefits.

Reflecting on the past year, as many of us do over the holidays, should increase your motivation to meditate. The holidays will be a first chance to reflect on a year of worries that were coupled with a loss of access to resilience-builders like exercise and social activity. 2020 was a year when meditation paid dividends.

And while vaccines give reason for optimism, anyone predicting a stress-free 2021 should be asked about the accuracy of their 2020 predictions. Then I’d suggest they not count their chickens before the minks show up.

If you are on side to start meditating this January, here is an introduction to getting started and building a consistent practice. Specifically, increase your motivation through reading about the benefits. Then increase your ability by learning the methods, adopting tools, and starting with short sessions. Finally, set up lots of prompts, make a meditation space, and pick a consistent time. And if all else fails, don't wait until January 1st 2022. Instead, create a new temporal landmark out of February 1st and try again.