Meditation is a bit of a funny topic. Everybody knows what it is, in theory, but in reality they may not really understand it all that well at all. The great thing is, that despite what some people might want to tell you, it really is the easiest thing in the world to bring into your life. Here is a quick look at five reasons why you should start thinking about working meditation into your routine, today.
1. It’s Free
When I was in New York recently, I was very surprised just how heavily meditation was being “sold” on the subway. I don’t have any further information about the advertisements I saw all along the L train stops, but it did strike me as probably being some form of manipulation of what meditation really is. It also further reinforced my belief that a lot of people will take up this kind of commodified form of meditation because they are just not really sure about what meditation is. In my personal opinion one of the main beauties of meditation is that it is so simple and involves nothing more than a quiet space and a little bit of your time. If you have never done it before, there are lots of free guides at the click of a switch on a Google search, or right here on You Tube. The meditation time itself, for me, should always be free and one that is 100% personal. If you are interested in learning about some of the methods of how best to get into meditation techniques, I’d suggest buying a book on the subject rather than paying for a led course.
2. Meditation Is Not Religion
One big myth that needs debunking is the one that meditation is some form of religion. Meditation is all about you, not any way of praying to Buddha or any other form of God. If you are religious then, meditation should in no way run into conflict with any existing practices. Whereas religion most often looks towards an external deity, meditation is all about taking some time out and learning to feel better within. If your religion already does that for you anyway, that’s brilliant. It also doesn’t mean that meditation might not be helpful for you in other ways, too. Meditation is of course very often tied in with spirituality, but it need not be. I believe this is one of the things that scares some people away from it. Meditation can be spiritual, if that is what you are looking for. Meditation can also not involve any use of that word at all. Meditation should at the start be about nothing more than finding some peace and equilibrium in your life.
3. Meditation Can Improve Your Health
A lot of people don’t realise just how damaging stress is to our health. Whether this comes from work or personal situations, it is something that everybody reading this will have to some degree in their lives. Meditation is the ideal way to take ownership of the stress that is so harmful to our day to day existence. By simply sitting in silence for a little while each day, you will be taking a proactive step to combating stress. Not only will you be taking a huge step to combating stress by meditating, but you will also be creating a brand new dynamic in your life. You are taking back control. Meditation in and of itself is a brilliant way for you to start improving your health, but in my opinion it is also a gateway to a more mindful way of living. By introducing meditation into my life, I then started to think more about the food I ate, how to eradicate some of my bad habits, and even about the things I read each day. I also started to implement a daily exercise programme into my routine that complements my meditation.
4. Meditation Can Help You At Work
As mentioned above, stress is a big killer, and the majority of it in your life probably comes from work. In some ways this is almost certainly true. When looked at another way, it could also be said that the real stress you feel there is being magnified by the over importance that you attach to it. Meditation allows you to take a step back from the stress in your work life and put things into perspective. In terms of your job, this can mean that meditation allows you to approach previously stressful situations or people in a brand new, much more positive way. Meditation will not turn you into a Zen master overnight, but it can help you listen to others more, feel more empathy, and feel in control. Think for a second about how positive an impact introducing some of the above qualities into your workplace could be. Give it a try and you’ll start to see how meditation could potentially revolutionise your 9-to-5.
5. Meditation Makes You Happy
Ok, this may be a little bit of an exaggeration. Meditation cannot guarantee to make you happy and fall back into unconditional love with this mad world. It will, however, almost certainly make you, by some degrees, a happier person. I know this is true as I benefit from it myself everyday, but you don’t just have to take my word for it. Meditation has been proven to improve the behaviour of children in previously troubled schools, and it has also been used successfully in prisons too. Meditation does this by allowing you to reconnect with yourself. It puts you back in touch with your emotions and it can literally bring a smile to your face for no reason at all. In our very unstable world, which seems a particularly angry and conflicted painful place at the moment, there is no better way to start making things better outside by starting to feel more positive and happy within your own skin.
