Sea Change: Meditation March & a New Contract

By Leo Babauta

We’re wrapping up Healthy Eating February, and getting ready to head into March with a new module on the Habit of Meditation.

Today we’ll talk a little about what to expect, and also launch a new membership contract for the Sea Change Program.

Let’s talk about that contract first: what is it? It’s simply a commitment that you will do your absolute best to follow the module plan you choose, and report on your success/failure each month. It’s not a legal contract — it’s a morally binding contract, and while it’s optional for you as members, I highly encourage you to do it.

Why? Because for $10/month, you might not feel completely committed to the program. I lowered the monthly membership fee for Sea Change to allow more people to come into the program, not to make it feel less important to members. So by signing a contract, you are stepping up your commitment.

Don’t sign it if you don’t feel committed and aren’t really going to do it. Sign it only if you plan to do your utmost to actually follow the plan, create a new habit, and report on it each month.

Here’s the new membership contract — go sign it now!

The terms of the contract — you agree to:

Follow the plan of the module you choose to follow each month, as faithfully as you can. There will be times you fail, but you promise to do your very best.
If you miss a day, make the best effort of your abilities to get back on track. Don’t let one or two missed days stop you. Make it a rule never to miss two days in a row. Help others in your accountability team get back on track if they miss a day or two.
Report at the end of each month whether you were successful with that month’s module. We will have a monthly reporting thread in the forum — look for it at the end of the month, and report on your success/failure. This is mandatory! If you messed up, explain why and what you’ve learned. If you were successful, report on what worked.

This contract isn’t to benefit me — it’s to help make the program more effective, so you’ll be more likely to form the habits we’re trying to form.

Meditation Module in March

In March, we’ll be focusing on forming the habit of meditation. If you’re not interested in meditation, you can keep doing the Healthy Eating module, or go back to the Unprocrastination module, or do your own thing if you like.

But I strongly suggest you do the Meditation module.

Why? I’ll go more into this in the module overview, but I believe mindfulness is the key to forming all other habits … and meditation is nothing but mindfulness practice. It’s not some weird Eastern religion or New Age thing, it’s not trying to empty your mind — it’s learning to focus your mind on the present, and to watch your thoughts. If you don’t have the ability to be aware of your thoughts and feelings, they control you, and you fail at habits.

More on this soon. For now, I wanted to tell you what to expect in the Meditation module — it won’t be hard at all. We’ll be focusing on 3 minutes of meditation a day. Just sit in a quiet place, pay attention to your body and your breathing and your thoughts. For 3 minutes. We’ll go into the full instructions soon, but I wanted to tell you how simple this will be.

We’re only trying to make this a habit, not do a full 30 or 45 minutes of meditation, for now. Later, if you like, you can increase it, but for now, we’re focusing on the habit.

It’ll be fun! And it’s an amazing way to start your day. More soon!