{"id":2178,"date":"2018-01-18T08:19:29","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T08:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/"},"modified":"2018-01-18T08:19:29","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T08:19:29","slug":"elephant-mindfulness-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/","title":{"rendered":"I Couldn’t Stay Present\u2026 So I Developed a Mindfulness App!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m not a rock star app developer\u2026. Or even a guy who wants to build the next \u2018unicorn\u2019 business. \u00a0I\u2019m just an ordinary bloke with an ordinary job who wanted to do the extra-ordinary \u2013 live my life in the present moment.<\/p>\n

Sounds simple, huh? \u00a0But as anyone who\u2019s interested in meditation and mindfulness will tell you, staying anchored in the \u2018now\u2019 is anything but!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how my typical day would unravel. \u00a0I get up nice and early, have a cuppa and meditate. \u00a0The house is silent, I\u2019m hearing the birds outside, noticing the colour the sun casts over the clouds as it rises and I am so chilled I\u2019m virtually zen-incarnate. \u00a0Inside my head my thoughts are few and far between. \u00a0This is the scene that plays out as I leave the house, make my way to the subway and even lingers as I walk towards the office.<\/p>\n

But then it all goes horribly wrong.<\/p>\n

No sooner have I stepped foot into the office, my mind is racing. \u00a0Emails, phone calls and colleagues are pulling my attention in 100 different directions. \u00a0My daily calendar reminder to meditate gets pushed out the way so that other, seemingly more important meetings can take its place. \u00a0Suddenly it\u2019s 6.30pm and my lofty plans for a mindful, meditative day are lying in tatters, along with my sanity! \u00a0Sound familiar? \u00a0Thought so\u2026<\/p>\n

I undertook a survey recently to find out what the biggest reason people fail to keep their healthy habits is, and the majority of respondents (45%) said that modern life was the biggest factor in their failure. \u00a0From social media to emails to smartphones, our days are littered with distractions \u2013 and considering it takes anything from three weeks to nine months of regular practice to form a new habit, it doesn\u2019t take a genius to work out that distractions + stress = failed healthy habits.<\/p>\n

Something needs to change.<\/p>\n

It was after one particularly distracted day in the office that I decided modern technology could offer a solution. \u00a0\u201cSurely there must be an app that I can use with my phone or smartwatch that will simply nudge me to practice mindfulness throughout my day?\u201d <\/i>I thought. \u00a0Well, it turns out there wasn\u2019t. \u00a0It\u2019s such a simple and powerful way to boost presence-power that I was sure <\/i>someone else would have built this app, but I found nothing. \u00a0Nada. Zip. \u00a0So I thought I\u2019d have a go \u2013 I\u2019ve a mate whose cousin is a coder and could do it for cheap so why not?!<\/p>\n

Elephant App<\/a> (elephants never forget \u2013 get it?!<\/i>) is a simple, easy-to-use app that lets you pick a healthy habit you want to achieve, choose how many times you want reminding to practice the habit, and during which times of the day, and sends you little vibrating reminders to practice your habit. \u00a0Simple right? \u00a0And the best bit \u2013 it really does work!<\/p>\n

\"mindfulness<\/a><\/p>\n

My favourite habit is to practice mindfulness, so as I walk around the office, I get an occasional vibrating alert sent straight to my watch that reminds me to, \u2018Be present\u2019. \u00a0I don\u2019t have to open the app, or enter anything in \u2013 I simply get present and carry on with my day. \u00a0The more I practice, the more second nature it becomes and I can honestly say that my days are more mindful, productive and peaceful as a result.<\/p>\n

\"mindfulness<\/a><\/p>\n

Other people are using Elephant to remind them to drink more water during the day; others are remembering to sit up straight as they work, while others are using it to remember to practice gratitude. \u00a0If it\u2019s a healthy habit that requires repetition and practice, then Elephant App can help.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s my challenge to you: Choose a healthy new habit today that requires repetition and practice, and download Elephant App so you\u2019ve got your own virtual helper on-hand to nudge you in the right direction throughout the day. \u00a0And then let me know how it works for you (you can email me via the app)!<\/p>\n

Happy habit-setting, and here\u2019s to a mindful and meditative year ahead!<\/p>\n

\"elephant<\/a><\/p>\n

To download the app from iTunes, visit: http:\/\/apple.co\/2kYqdOf<\/a><\/p>\n

To download the app from Google Play, visit: http:\/\/bit.ly\/2hH9qDD<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is not a paid endorsement. The views of the author do not necessarily represent those of www.meditationmag.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m not a rock star app developer\u2026. Or even a guy who wants to build the next \u2018unicorn\u2019 business. I\u2019m just an ordinary bloke with an ordinary job who wanted to do the extra-ordinary \u2013 live my life in the present moment. This is the story of how I built my own mindfulness app!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-society"],"yoast_head":"\nI Couldn't Stay Present\u2026 So I Developed a Mindfulness App! - Meditation Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Couldn't Stay Present\u2026 So I Developed a Mindfulness App! - Meditation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019m not a rock star app developer\u2026. Or even a guy who wants to build the next \u2018unicorn\u2019 business. I\u2019m just an ordinary bloke with an ordinary job who wanted to do the extra-ordinary \u2013 live my life in the present moment. This is the story of how I built my own mindfulness app!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Meditation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Meditation-Magazine-565383236930078\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/elephantapp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-18T08:19:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/elephant-mindfulness-app.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ricky Cooper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ricky Cooper\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ricky Cooper\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7168e71e3da93515ed8b6c992dc5aa72\"},\"headline\":\"I Couldn’t Stay Present\u2026 So I Developed a Mindfulness App!\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-18T08:19:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":746,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/\",\"name\":\"I Couldn't Stay Present\u2026 So I Developed a Mindfulness App! - Meditation Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-18T08:19:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7168e71e3da93515ed8b6c992dc5aa72\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/elephant-mindfulness-app.jpeg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1280},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Meditation Magazine\",\"description\":\"Mystical, Magical, Mindful: MeditationMag \u2728\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7168e71e3da93515ed8b6c992dc5aa72\",\"name\":\"Ricky Cooper\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/rickycooper-96x96.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/rickycooper-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/rickycooper-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Ricky Cooper\"},\"description\":\"Ricky Cooper is the creator of Elephant App \u2013 the habit reminder app.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/elephantapp.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/elephantapp\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meditationmag.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/rickycooper\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I Couldn't Stay Present\u2026 So I Developed a Mindfulness App! - Meditation Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I Couldn't Stay Present\u2026 So I Developed a Mindfulness App! - Meditation Magazine","og_description":"I\u2019m not a rock star app developer\u2026. Or even a guy who wants to build the next \u2018unicorn\u2019 business. I\u2019m just an ordinary bloke with an ordinary job who wanted to do the extra-ordinary \u2013 live my life in the present moment. This is the story of how I built my own mindfulness app!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/","og_site_name":"Meditation Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Meditation-Magazine-565383236930078\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/elephantapp\/","article_published_time":"2018-01-18T08:19:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/elephant-mindfulness-app.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ricky Cooper","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ricky Cooper","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/"},"author":{"name":"Ricky Cooper","@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7168e71e3da93515ed8b6c992dc5aa72"},"headline":"I Couldn’t Stay Present\u2026 So I Developed a Mindfulness App!","datePublished":"2018-01-18T08:19:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/"},"wordCount":746,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/elephant-mindfulness-app.jpeg","articleSection":["Featured","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/","url":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/","name":"I Couldn't Stay Present\u2026 So I Developed a Mindfulness App! - Meditation Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/elephant-mindfulness-app.jpeg","datePublished":"2018-01-18T08:19:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7168e71e3da93515ed8b6c992dc5aa72"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/elephant-mindfulness-app\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/elephant-mindfulness-app.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/elephant-mindfulness-app.jpeg","width":1920,"height":1280},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/","name":"Meditation Magazine","description":"Mystical, Magical, Mindful: MeditationMag \u2728","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7168e71e3da93515ed8b6c992dc5aa72","name":"Ricky Cooper","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/rickycooper-96x96.png","url":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/rickycooper-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/rickycooper-96x96.png","caption":"Ricky Cooper"},"description":"Ricky Cooper is the creator of Elephant App \u2013 the habit reminder app.","sameAs":["https:\/\/elephantapp.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/elephantapp\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/author\/rickycooper\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}