What is a meditation?
Meditation is a form of concentration. It focuses your mind and thoughts on one thing and tries to remove everything else. It doesn’t happen immediately, it takes time, sometimes it can take a very long time before a person can truly say they feel the change.
There are many forms of meditation, as I wrote about in “50 Shades Of Meditation“, and many different ways to achieve the same result.
Some results are different from others, but the basics are really very simple and require you to stick with it. Just like when you learn to cook or go to the gym, you can’t lift the same weights as the strongest man or woman there, no, you stick with it, you teach yourself to do it with repetition, you come back and do it again and again until you can lift the heavier weights. Over time you will see results.
Why should you meditate?
For the majority of us, life isn’t easy, no matter who you are. On a typical day you have too much on your mind. Household, job, colleagues and bosses, wife, children and so on… Everything is just too much.
The single parent trying to keep everything afloat, like sending the kids to school, paying taxes and regular payments, and managing a job of some kind. Or the high-tech worker, working long hours, trying to relieve the pressure at the weekend and make time for a relationship in all this chaos.
You know what happens to your brain when it gets tired, don’t you? it starts to malfunction. You know that part – you get headaches and migraines, you can’t concentrate, you can’t sleep, you’re constantly irritated and everything you do is so chaotic you can’t breathe.
It’s not easy to live like this, but it can be much better with a little work!
How to start?
It’s really that simple. The next time you feel overwhelmed, find a quiet place. It could be somewhere on the beach, it could be a room in your house, a balcony, the roof of a building, a basement, your computer chair, anywhere you can find quiet.
When you find this place and everything around you is quiet, set your alarm clock for 5-10 minutes (depending on your situation) and close your eyes. Focus only on your breathing, air coming in, air going out, always through your nose. Slow everything down. When your breathing is slow (but not shallow) your body will automatically follow it and slow down all other processes with it if you give it enough time.
Try to feel the amount of air your body really needs, but don’t stress about it, it will come naturally after a while.
Repeat this 2-3 times a day. That’s it! You’re meditating. Simple enough, right?
Why is it difficult for most people?
Most people I’ve talked to say that they find it difficult to stop what they’re doing and take a break. They cannot because life is too complicated for them.
They’d rather invest their time in something else, because it’s a kind of time investment to stop everything and meditate. They just can’t find the time with everything that’s going on and before they know it, another day has gone by.
This is important. The more time you put into meditation, the more time you’ll find you have for everything else. I know it doesn’t make sense to you at the moment, but that’s how it is for many people who invest their time in it.
It seems that another obstacle for many people is getting it into their daily routine and sticking with it over a long period of time. Something always comes up and meditation is suddenly pushed down the list of priorities.
This is where outside help comes in handy. Whether you’re not sure why you should meditate, or you know why you should meditate but can’t seem to stick with it alone, having someone else help you with the process will get you into the rhythm of it. You schedule specific times where someone else is with you the whole time, someone with the necessary experience to guide you through the process.
Conclusion
Meditation is essential for your peace of mind. Navigating between work, expenses and all the other factors makes you feel like you need a break.
Practicing meditation doesn’t have to be hard, it doesn’t have to be perfect, you don’t have to think about it or find the perfect place/time, but it still has to happen.
Meditation can be almost anything you do, as long as you pay attention to the process. As I wrote above, there’s no one right way to do it, but it’s important that you do it.
I’m offering you a long-term practice that will probably change the way you look at some things in your life, and over time will change your life for the better.
Will you accept the invitation…?
Thank you for reading.
