Version 0.5.0 - The Ugly Baby Release

Meditation Helper is an Android application to help you meditate.

This first public version allows you to:

• Configure multiple meditation profiles
• Set overall meditation time
• Set preparation time i.e. time before first bell rings
• Set interval bells
• View log of all meditation sessions (sittings)
• Set target daily meditation time e.g. I want to meditate for 1 hour each day

Widget
The app includes a widget for the home screen which displays:

• The current number of consecutive days you have hit your daily target.
• The record number of consecutive days you have hit your target.
• The percentage of your daily target you have hit today (in graphical pie chart form).

I have found that this works well as a motivational device to encourage me to meditate. For example, I have a target set to meditate for 1 hour per day. I aim to meditate for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. In the past there would be some evenings where I felt to tired to meditate, and so skipped it. Now, with this app, I have extra motivation.

At the time of writing this the widget on my home screen is telling me that my current sequence is 56 consecutive days where I have meditated for 1 hour. If I break the sequence now it's going to take me a month and a half to beat my record. I really don't want to do that. I want to push on to make 100 consecutive days.

Clicking the widget launches the main application.

Ugly Baby

All parents love their babies, even if they are ugly. This is my baby, and I love it. But I recognize the fact that it's not very pretty. As it grows and matures, however, I feel confident that it will grow more beautiful.

And unlike other babies, this one does more than just make noise. It's actually useful.

Here are some screenshots.

Timer Screen

• The red number shows the preparation time i.e. the time from clicking 'Start' until the first bell rings. 
• The green number is the meditation time.
• The '30 Minutes' is the name of the current meditation profile (this is the default profile).
• To load a new profile either tap the profile label, or hit the menu button (see next screenshot).

Profile Editor

• Yeah, that's an ugly baby.
• The Interval Bells button shows a red dot for each interval bell, proportionate to when the bell rings. In the above example you can see that I have one interval bell which rings half way through the sitting.

Sitting Log

• Shows times for all sittings, most recent first.

Widget

• Yeah, like I said, not pretty.
• The top number shows the current consecutive number of days I've hit my target.
• The bottom number shows my best ever sequence.
• The green section illustrates how much of my daily target I've hit today (50%).

Inspiration

Credit where credit is due:

• The idea of keeping track of consecutive days comes from: http://www.kk.org/quantifiedself/2010/02/robin-barooahs-equanimity---me.php - I used this app when I had an iPhone and wanted something similar for Android.