I mentioned last month how my family likes to buy octopus knick-knacks for me. Well, here is another one. This one was originally a cheap flashlight-keychain type of octopus, but the light quickly broke and so I removed the chain. Now, however, it serves a much higher purpose: to remind me to meditate every day.

I like to set mild personal achievement goals some months, and last month I decided to spend at least 10 minutes in quiet meditation every day. It was wonderful and worked magic on my mental health! Anyway, to help me remember to meditate every day I used my octopus friend here. I would place him on my desk so that he was staring right at me - as if saying "When are you gonna meditate, man?" And then after meditating I would lay him on his side and say "Goodnight buddy, quit worrying about me and go to sleep." The next day I would stand him up again, and his glaring gaze would once more remind me to spend a few minutes in quiet mindfulness.

This method worked great, and I was able to meditate every single day! Once the new month arrived I put Meditation Octopus away - because I didn't want to become so used to his presence that I ignored him. I'll retrieve him at a later date, and call upon his services once again.

Thanks buddy - you can take a break now!