Scheduling your meditation practice for the same time each day will help it become part of your everyday routine. If you meditate daily, you'll experience its benefits more profoundly. Early morning is a good time to meditate since your mind has not yet become consumed with the stresses and worries of the day. It is not a good idea to meditate directly after eating. If you're digesting a meal, you may feel uncomfortable and less able to concentrate. If you want additional guidance, consider taking a meditation class with an experienced teacher. You can find a range of different class types by searching online. Local gyms, spas, schools, and dedicated meditation centers offer classes in many locations. You can also find a wide range of guided meditations and instructional videos on YouTube. For a more immersive experience, look into attending a spiritual retreat where you will spend several days or weeks in intensive meditation. Vipassana Meditation offers free 10 day retreats at centers throughout the world. Though not for everyone, some people find that reading spiritual books and sacred writings helps them understand meditation and inspires them to strive for inner peace and spiritual understanding. Some good books to start with include A Profound Mind: Cultivating Wisdom in Everyday Life by the Dalai Lama, The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts, "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle, and One-Minute Mindfulness by Donald Altman. If you wish, you can pick out elements of wisdom that resonate with you from any spiritual or sacred texts and reflect on them during your next meditation session. in your everyday life. Meditation doesn't have to be limited to your practice sessions. You can also practice mindfulness throughout your day-to-day life. Simply work on being aware of what is happening both inside and around you at any given moment throughout the day. For example, in moments of stress, try to take a few seconds to focus solely on your breathing and empty your mind of any negative thoughts or emotions. You can also practice mindfulness when you eat by becoming aware of the food and all the sensations you experience as you eat. No matter what actions you perform in your daily lifewhether it's sitting at a computer or sweeping the floortry to become more aware of your body's movements and how you feel in the present moment. This focus and awareness is living mindfully. Grounding is a technique to help you practice mindfulness in everyday life. All you need to do is focus directly on something in your surroundings or a specific sensation in your body. For example, you might focus on the blue color of a pen or folder on a table near you or examine more closely the feeling of your feet on the floor or your hands resting on the arms of your chair. Try doing this if you feel like you are distracted or you find your mind is wandering, or if you are feeling stressed. You can also try focusing on multiple sensations at once. For example, pick up a keyring and pay attention to the sounds the keys make, the way they feel in your hand, and even their metallic smell. While meditation can improve your overall health and wellbeing, it works best if you combine it with other healthy lifestyle practices. Try to eat healthily, exercise, and get enough sleep. Avoid watching too much television, drinking alcohol, or smoking before meditation. These activities are unhealthy, and they can numb the mindpreventing you from achieving the level of concentration necessary for successful meditation. Meditation is not a goal that you can complete, like trying to get a promotion at work. Viewing meditation just as a tool to achieve a certain goal (even if your goal is to be enlightened) would be like saying the goal of a stroll on a beautiful day is to walk a mile. Focus instead on the process and experience of meditation itself, and don't bring the desires and attachments that distract you in day-to-day life into your meditation practice. When beginning, you shouldn't be too concerned with the quality of the meditation itself. As long as you feel calmer, happier, and more at peace at the end of your practice, your meditation was successful.

Summary: Try to meditate at the same time every day. Take a guided meditation class to hone your techniques. Read spiritual books to learn more about meditation. Practice mindfulness Try grounding exercises to help you be more present. Maintain a healthy lifestyle in addition to meditating. View meditation as a journey rather than a goal.

It is important to secure your work with a vise or other clamp to keep it from moving around while you are filing. Mount the vise so that the stationary jaw extends slightly beyond the edge of your workbench, and be sure to place bolts in all the holes on the base of the vise and secure them with locking washers. Then, place the workpiece in the vise so that it is supported by the full clamping surface. You don't want to use a back and forth motion with your file, as this will damage the file and likely your workpiece as well. Instead, only apply pressure on the forward stroke and lift the file away from the workpiece on the return stroke. For heavy cross filing, grab the handle of the file with the dominant hand and place the palm of the other hand on the end of the file. Angle the file diagonally to the work and press down firmly so that the file digs in and cuts the metal. Make long, slow strokes away from your body. Lift the file away from the surface on the return stroke to prevent dulling the file. For straight filing, use a small file rather than a large one. Grab the handle of the file with the dominant hand and place the fingers of the other hand on the end of the file. Point the file away from you and press it down firmly on your workpiece. Make long, slow strokes away from your body, and only file in one direction, rather than back and forth. For draw filing, place your hands on either side of the file with a gap slightly larger than your workpiece. Hold the file horizontally and make long, slow strokes away from your body with a firm pressure. Remember to only apply pressure on the forward stroke, and to remove the file on the backward stroke.

Summary: Secure your work. File in only one direction. Cross file to remove material. Straight file for detail work. Draw file to finish a surface.

The tray can be already painted, or it can be unpainted. You can also use this method on tables, as long as they have a rim or lip of some sort. Craft stores typically carry unpainted wood trays in their wood crafting section. Apply a single coat of paint using a wide paintbrush made from synthetic, taklon bristles. Let the paint dry, then add a second coat if the first one is too thin. Let the second coat of paint dry completely before moving on. This should only take 15 to 20 minutes. You don't have to paint the bottom if you will be using grout around the bottle caps. You should paint the bottom if you'll be using clear epoxy resin, however. Do not use spray paint. It may be faster to apply, but it will be harder to touch up in the end. Hot glue sets within minutes, but liquid nails and other types of industrial-strength glue typically need at least a day to dry and cure. Read the label on the tube or can to find out the complete drying and curing instructions. You will need to cover the top and inside walls of the tray with painter's tape. You can also cover the outside if you really want to. When you are adding the tape to the inside walls, make sure that you place it just above the tops of the bottle caps. Skip this step if you will be using clear epoxy resin instead of grout. Buy a tub of grout from the craft store, and prepare it according to the instructions on the package. Grout from the craft store is finer than grout sold in hardware stores. It comes in different colors, has a finer texture, and is typically easier to mix. If you prefer to use clear epoxy resin, purchase a kit from the craft store, then mix it according to the instructions in the package. Typically, you mix parts A and B together. If you notice any grout on the painted part of the tray, paint over it using some acrylic craft paint. If you used clear epoxy resin, then your tray is ready to use!
Summary: Choose a plain, wooden serving tray that you wish to decorate. Paint your tray with acrylic craft paint, if desired. Wait for the glue to dry and cure. Mask off the sides of the tray with painter's tape. Mix your grout. Touch the tray up, if needed.