Your mind controls most of your life – or at least your response to everyday life situations. And once you get your own mind under control, your whole life might just fall into place. This is what Lao Tzu believed, and what many scientists and experts confirm today.
And in today’s modern world full of rush and stress, being in control of your own mind has never been more important. So many people suffer from anxiety, low self-esteem, stress and the general feeling of being overwhelmed. Most don’t know how to deal with it, so they turn to unhealthy habits such as overeating, underrating, drinking, smoking, substance abuse and so on. Even if they don’t, they still suffer the terrible consequences of being constantly under pressure, which leaves a huge mark on your health.
But you can change this. That’s a fact. You don’t have to end up in an endless cycle of hating yourself or being too stressed out to breathe. You can focus your efforts on being kind to yourself, being in the moment and taking everything one step at a time.
So, how should you do this?
Well, there isn’t a get-well-quickly scheme that you can follow. You have to work hard on yourself and on your mind in order to be successful. And one of the key steps to that is meditation.
This is the practice that will teach you about yourself and show you where happiness, sadness, and stress come from – not the world around you, but from within you. Click here to learn more about meditation.
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Here are just some of the ways meditation will improve your life.
A great way to start a day
These days, people don’t start their day with a nice cup of coffee and a smile on their face. Well, they do drink coffee, but not before panic slaps them straight across the face and anxiety opens their eyes. It’s a scary way to wake up, isn’t it?
You start your rush from the moment you wake up – get dressed, skip breakfast, go to work, take care of the house. And things get even worse if you’re not a morning person and prefer to hit the snooze button at every opportunity you get.
Well, all of that will change, if only you try to meditate. The thing is, you will learn to relax, breathe and welcome the day instead of pushing yourself through it. You’ll be able to gently wake up and set goals, focus on the present and truly grasp what it means to be alive.
Through meditation, you will learn to be focused and centered with an intent to make the best use of the day ahead of you. You will learn control and you will make every day better for yourself. This study shows the effects of meditation on your health: https://nccih.nih.gov/health/tips/meditation
You’ll become more positive
There are certain types of meditation you can do in order to have more of that positive energy. It can help you feel compassion, love, and understanding for yourself, and for others too. Spending just a few minutes each day being positive will help you be more positive in the long run. Which makes sense.
Think about it – everything worthwhile takes practice, so positivity has to be practiced too. It may be hard to believe, especially if you think that you are a fundamentally negative person, but this is how it works.
Boosting your confidence
When you start to see the world in a more positive light, you also start gaining confidence. Mindfulness gives you a unique opportunity to ground yourself and understand yourself better, which in turn results in a better experience with yourself. You will learn to love yourself and respect your body and mind for what they are. You can begin to understand that you don’t have to compare yourself to other people and that you are enough.
Meditation will take up some of your time and teach you to embrace your own personality. You will stop trying to be something that you are not and you will realize that what you are is amazing.
Reducing your anxiety
The levels of anxiety the society experiences nowadays are stunning and at an all-time high. And this is where meditation really shines. It helps you focus, ground yourself, breathe and let go. You will learn to focus on positive thoughts and the moment at hand.
You will let go of any anxiety you’ve been holding onto and your response to stress will be so much better. The next time you experience a stressful situation, you’ll know how to react. Because the truth is that we can’t control the situations that happen to us, but we can control how we respond to them. Meditation will teach you to take a moment, take a deep breath and calm yourself down before you start to panic.
Forming a deeper connection with yourself
One of the hardest things about meditating the fact that you have to sit, be quiet and enjoy your own thoughts. Most people find the process boring and tiresome. Some say that their thoughts take them back to some embarrassing situations, so they just avoid doing it.
But, if you try it for a while, you will see that there’s often a disconnect between who you want to be and who you are, as well as who you think you should be. When you limit the distractions around you with mindfulness meditation, you enter a state which allows you to understand yourself and it’s hard to ignore your own thoughts when you sit quietly. Your truth will float up and you’ll get to know the real you.
You’ll be gentler to yourself and your own feelings. And finally, you’ll be happier.
Naturally, there will still be some bad days. Your negativity and other bad feelings will replace what mindfulness has rebuilt. But you will have the tools necessary now to recognize what is happening, to realize that it’s not the truth and to calm yourself down again.