Meditation has been an important part of my life since I was a child. The benefits of meditation have grown in my life and are now a large part of my professional and personal life. Here's how it works.
Why meditate? It can reduce stress and anxiety, improve your ability to concentrate, and even give you more energy and focus.
Here are some benefits:
Improve concentration
Reduce stress and anxiety
Increase creativity and productivity
Increase the effectiveness of decision making and problem solving
Increase self confidence
Reduce physical pain, illness and discomfort
Improve relationships
And more...
For me, meditation works best when done in conjunction with my daily routine. There's no magic pill here. Instead, it's about changing your daily habits and creating a routine.
STEP 1: Start by Finding Time for Yourself
It's very easy to tell yourself that you'll "find time later" or "set aside a certain hour". But when exactly will that time be? And you don't want to skip sleep just so you can meditate.
My recommendation is to set aside at least 15 minutes every day to meditate. Just take 15 minutes out of your day to quiet your mind, focus on something positive, and release stress.
Try using a timer to remind yourself to meditate. You can use an app like Headspace or the timer in Google Chrome's developer tools to help you track your progress.
STEP 2: Find a Location for Your Mediation Session
It's easy to do a short session in the car. However, if you plan to meditate for longer periods of time or to focus on a specific subject, you may want to set a location in mind.
I like sitting in a quiet place that doesn't have any distractions. For instance, if I'm going to meditate on a topic of gratitude, I sit near a window with sunlight streaming through. This helps ground me.
When you meditate, you can also bring your thoughts, feelings and emotions into your sessions. You can do this by focusing on something that makes you happy or sad. This can allow you to think about the things you care most about, and you may find yourself thinking about things you never would have thought about before.
STEP 3: Set Goals for Your Meditations
Now that you know how to start and finish a session, you'll need a goal for your next one. Here are a few things you can consider:
Focus on gratitude
Focus on a positive emotion
Focus on letting go of negative emotions
Focus on how you feel when you are grateful
Focus on how you feel when you are peaceful
Focus on how you feel when you are motivated
If you struggle with procrastination, you can also choose a single task to complete and then move onto the next one. You can set a timer for 5-10 minutes and focus on that one task until you feel accomplished.
These are some of the simple ways that meditation works for me. What have you found that
Meditation is very important