From the course: Arianna Huffington's Thrive 01: Discovering Meditation and Sleep

Creating a life tracker

- Throughout the course, we want you to keep track of how long you are sleeping and how you are sleeping. What I've learned tracking is that when I write down how long I slept or how long I meditated for, it's almost like I'm setting up a competition with myself, and I want to do better the next day. I know it sounds childish, but there is a childish part of us, and the same with my meditation. And remember, if you don't get all the sleep you need or if you don't meditate, do not judge yourself. You are going to get tired of hearing me say that, but that's how important it is. The goal of tracking is not to judge ourselves but to give us the opportunity to assess whether our reaction starts to shift, as we bring more mindfulness into lives, and whether we are actually fulfilling our goal of getting all the sleep we need. In this case, we are starting with just getting 30 minutes more than we're getting now. And remember what my mother said. "You are in control of the clicker," which means you are in control of your own reactions. "Darling," she used to say, "just change the channel." You are in control of the clicker. Don't replay the bad, scary movie.

Contents