A Meditation on Sunrise

 I have personally found that early in the day is most conducive to meditation practice. Of the three weekly practices, it seems that the Saturday morning meditation practice is most conducive for me to settle my mind. I have found that if the mind can be made clear everyday, it is easiest for me to stay focused and concentrated. If my mind has all these residual thoughts or expectations, I will simply carry these with me into the present action, and my thought patterns will be very coarse and circular. So how can a person "reset" their mind in every moment?
  By "reset", I don't at all mean that the mind is clear of all its thoughts and memories. Rather, I am talking about the ability for the mind to "pick up" the present moment without attachment to the previous thought. This non-attachment is so important: it determines whether the mind is functioning according to its best capacity, or whether it's getting bogged down in the details of the past thoughts. Sometimes, one has to simply snap out of the repetitive thought behaviors of the past, by simply recognizing that the past thoughts are only just thoughts. The other point is to be resilient and not believe that the previous thoughts require any resolution: they have simply passed, and now one is faced with the new situation.
   The other point is about expectations: expectations are ideals that a person shoots for, not something that binds a person. When I have certain goals that I wish to achieve on a given day, I need to ask myself: are those desirable outcomes absolutely binding and determining of my value as a person? Not really, because the whole point of goals is to provide a natural way for individuals to extend their abilities in new ways. Not achieving a goal is actually a sign that the goal is sufficiently challenging that some struggle or effort is required. If I easily achieve every goal I set out to accomplish, it might be wise for me to consider whether the goal is "really" a goal, or whether it's just an easy target that guarantees a sense of success for me. Real goals entail the risk of failure, and yet that failure does not determine me to be a "failure". By not identifying goals with my identity or self worth, I can move through them with more clarity and not feel vexation when they are not necessarily achieved.
 Finally, one of the key aspects of resetting the mind is to find times to rest. Ideally the mind should always rest in the present moment; however, when one's mind is stirred and agitated, physically resting often helps! One should not underestimate the ability for a good sleep to clear the mind of too many agendas and attachments.