It's now close to 15,000 (that's fifteen thousand) consecutive days of twice daily meditation, and still loving it.

All great suggestions, Gary. Here's a few more:

1. The best meditation is the one you enjoy. If you aren't enjoying it, figure out what to do differently.

2. Don't be rigid about time. If you can't do 30, do 20 minutes. Can't do 20, do 10, 10 too much? Do 5. 5 too much, do 1. Seriously. If you can't do 1, there's something

3. Do quickies! (not the sexual kind, though if you want to do that too, I'm not stopping you). Take 1 minute as often as you like to STOP. Here are some things you can do when you stop:

(a) Listen to sounds. Don't TRY to make anything happen. Notice how effortless it is. Do this for a minute (or more if you like)

(b) be gently, calmly, non tensely aware of the free spontaneous flow of breathing. Many people who hate meditation don't realize their focus on their breath is tense and unpleasant (and tense attention triggers the fight or flight response, which raises blood pressure and all kinds of problematic things).

(c) notice colors, shapes, without tensely "looking for them" - just allow the beauty of the environment (no really, even in what appears to be an ugly environment, if you shift from "GOTTA GET THINGS DONE" mode to aesthetic appreciation, seeing/feeling like an artist, ANYWHERE can be beautiful. If you don't get this, next time you watch an intense video game or movie, notice the music and visual imagery, however dark, can be appreciated artistically)

4. In addition to quickies, use your sleep time. Take 1 minute (or more if you can) to wind down with deep breathing, relaxation, etc as you lie down to sleep. If you wake up at night instead of worrying about getting back to sleep (or worse, grabbing your phone right away) take a minute to relax, breathing open your attention, listen to sounds (aesthetically, not with a tense mind of judgment). When you wake up instead of sinking into worries about the day (or grabbing your phone) take a moment to breathe, relax, etc

5. Notice space around you. The verbal brain has nothing to hang on to when you shift from attending to objects to noticing space. people have been cured of depression, anxiety, chronic pain, relationship problems, and much more - and olympic athletes have been successfully trained - just doing this. If you don't understand how to do it, look up Les Fehmi's Open Focus, or look up the Tibetan Buddhist "sky gazing." All the same. Just a slight shift of attention and the world becomes utterly magic and awesomely blissful.