A date recently asked me how long I meditate each day and I replied, "uhm...all day? Like, I rarely am not."  He wanted to know how many hours you have to put in to attain enlightenment. To which I responded, "just start where you are and build on it."

HOW DID I GET 16,000 HOURS OF MEDITATION UNDER MY BELT?

One minute at a time.

You probably don't have years to devote to thought technology practices such as meditation. In my case, when I began, I'd made such a mess of my life that I couldn't even work (or think), so it was easy to put in a lot of hours. 

Hopefully, you don't have hours of extra time to practice. You have a busy life; a loving partner, beautiful kids and cute pets, a successful career. 

Or maybe your life is a disaster or just parts of it are, and your time is spent making it all better.

Whatever situation you find yourself in, my advice to you is to start today, right where you are. And take it very, very slow.

YEP, I STARTED OUT BY MEDITATING ONE MINUTE A DAY. 

When I first started my practice, I could barely sit through 30 seconds of stillness. I remember going to yoga because I heard it was good for me, and feeling like I was about to crawl out of my skin during the silent times.

When I started mindfulness meditation, I began to realize that destructive thoughts had taken over my brain. They were everywhere, and I could not think clearly.

So don't expect that your first minutes, or even hours, of practice will be perfect. I began with just noticing my thoughts, and did a little more each day. Each step along the way my focus became clearer, my stress reduced then virtually diminished, and eventually, I changed the entire structure of my brain.

I have now spent years and years in pursuit of Truth through meditation and many other practices that have the same brain-rewiring effect as meditation. 

Now I meditate all day. I would say about 40 times. I still my mind, if only for a moment, and re-connect to God/Truth through various practices…even just listening to music to raise my awareness. And when I have gaps of time available, I will retreat for days to go deeper or to prepare for something big.

But it all began with just one minute of practice.