I truly believe that meditation is the gateway habit for personal growth. It is the one habit you can start today that is guaranteed to change everything in your life for the better. It is also the one essential habit for making every other change in your life possible.
Yes…. I am giving mediation a huge amount of credit, but I promise you it’s THAT good.
For me, meditation was the beginning of my personal growth journey. It was the launching point that allowed me to see with clarity what was truly possible for my life.
Starting any new habit with consistency requires a commitment. In order to commit to making any sort of change in your life, you have to become so compelled to change that you are willing to do anything to make it happen. As Tony Robbins discusses in his book “Awaken The Giant Within”, in order for change to happen it has to become a MUST. It can’t be an “I should” or “I want to”…. it has to be “I must.”
So the point of this blog post is to walk you through my personal experience with meditating and take you from “I should start meditating” or “I’ve thought about meditating before” or even “I’m not a meditation person” to ” I MUST start meditating.
The caveat is this… if you are genuinely perfectly content with your life as it is- and don’t feel like there is anything that could use an upgrade- well this blog post is not for you my friend.
Here are 5 benefits you will experience once you start meditating
Break free of your old patterns:
Before I started meditating, I was living on autopilot most of the time. I wasn’t really paying attention to how I was showing up and moving through the world. I was living completely out of habit. I would drop the same sarcastic comments to my family at dinner, get predictably worked up about tests and homework, and engage in the same complaining and gossiping with my friends. My life seemed to be a vicious circle of events that were completely out of my control.
At night, I would journal and reflect on my day and write about all the ways I wanted to improve. I wanted to show up differently, more intentionally and stop playing out old patterns of behavior.
I had all of these grand ideas about how I would give people more authentic compliments, be a better listener, ask people deeper questions to get to know them. I wanted to relate to the world with a more open heart and experience more positive emotions in my everyday life.
But despite all of the personal growth books I read and the goals I set, I wasn’t able to make any progress or real change.
I was stuck in this reactive way of living and felt like I was a victim to my surroundings. I would start off having a perfectly lovely day, but then would hit some sort of bump in the road, like a traffic jam or a negative comment from a friend, and I would snap back to all my old patterns.
Once I started meditating, everything changed. I finally had the space and the awareness to live more intentionally. I felt a greater sense of control over my thoughts, words and actions. I firmly believe that to actually improve any aspect of your life, meditation is key.
Develop awareness of your thoughts:
Meditation cultivates a deep sense of awareness of your thoughts, emotions and behaviors. One of the first lessons you learn in meditation is how to observe your thoughts. This creates a sense of spaciousness and allows you to realize that you are not your thoughts. That can be kind of a trippy concept at first, but stick with me here.
When you can watch your thoughts as if they are cars passing by on a busy street, you don’t feel so attached to them. You don’t feel so caught up in them and can observe them in a much more objective fashion.
Bringing this level of awareness to your mind is like a superpower that unlocks your potential for greater happiness and change.
Cultivate a positive mindset:
When you practice bringing your conscious attention to your thoughts you are able to start using your mind like a filter. You become aware of the negative thought patterns that play in a loop in your head. With this new found awareness and filtering power you can learn to simply let go of the negative thoughts that aren’t serving you. It sounds so easy, right? And along with this skill you also learn how to purposely select positive thoughts that uplift you.
Many of the negative emotions you feel are a result of the negative thought patterns that continually play out in your mind. With meditation, you practice watching these thoughts and can catch yourself in the act of thinking them. Until you are able to get a handle on the thoughts that create the negative emotions, you are doomed to continually repeat them.
This is why meditation is essential for feeling a greater sense of positivity and joy on a regular basis.
Change your behaviors:
Once you have that spaciousness in the mind that meditation creates, you develop a sort of pause button for you life. You have the ability to press pause and thoughtfully consider decisions instead of acting out of impulse or habit. In this way, you can begin to more intentionally direct your behaviors and start living a life that makes your proud.
Embrace the present moment:
Meditation brings you out of your head and into the present moment where life is actually unfolding. So much of the time we spend replaying old scenes from the past or worrying about how tomorrow will unfold. During the actual practice of meditation you direct your attention and your senses fully into the now, usually by focusing in on your breath.
By practicing this daily in your meditation, you develop the ability to spend more of your life enjoying what the present moment has to offer.
So hopefully now you are thoroughly convinced that meditation is the essential first step in your quest for a better life. What are you waiting for…. give it a try today. And also stay tuned for next weeks post where I walk you through a step by step process to starting your very own meditation practice.
Are you still not convinced that meditation is for you? I’d love for you to drop a comment and let me know what hesitations or concerns you have about starting this soulful practice. Let me hear from you!
Do you have any favorite meditations that you would recommend??