Meditation Will Make you Happier, Healthier, and Help You Achieve Your Goals

I’m not a seasoned meditator by any means. I only started meditating roughly six months ago. I tried my hand at it before that, but was never very successful. Sitting quietly trying not to think about anything whilst beating myself up because I keep thinking and then worrying that I’ll never be able to get this right was the kind of meditation I was doing before. All of that changed recently though, and now I want to tell everybody, including you, about meditation. I want to stand on the mountaintops and yell, “You should be meditating, gosh darn it.”

I’m a practical gal who likes to know how something might benefit me before I do it. I also like to know that there is some kind of research to back stuff up. I could just write a little post about how meditation has changed my life and leave it as that, but I think I owe you a bit of an explanation. I also hope to compel you to give it a try if you’re not doing it already.

The benefits of mediation …

Meditation reduces your stress and anxiety levels. This was especially attractive to me because I used to be quite a worrier. Since beginning a meditation practice I’ve noticed a steady drop in the amount of worrying I do.

Worrying kills your ability to solve problems and zaps your creative energy. When you meditate your heart rate decreases and your breathing slows enabling you to relax. Boy, does that make a difference when you are trying to make art. Just being able to relax gives a boost to my ability to create.

Meditation helps build brain connectivity. It may even slow the thinning of connections associated with age related problems like dementia.

It helps increase your awareness. I don’t know if you know anyone who seems like they sleepwalk through life. Maybe you feel like you do that yourself. I think a lot of people do, but once you start meditating you become more aware of what is going on in the world around you. That may be connected to the increased brain connectivity. They found that monks who meditate have heightened sensory, auditory, and visual perception.

By far the most interesting research I’ve read about meditation suggests that people who meditate are better at self-regulation. They are better able to change their behaviors to help them achieve their goals.

You can read about the research behind these claims by clicking the links above. With all these benefits why wouldn’t you try meditation? It seems easy enough and it only takes a few minutes from day.

I’ll give you a good reason or what I thought was a darn good reason not to try it. It’s hard. It’s hard to think about nothing and to quiet your thoughts. It’s hard to stop looking at the computer, all the gosh darn time. Think about this, how much would you benefit if you just decided to do something that may be hard at first that will change your life?

Since meditating I’ve noticed a marked decrease in my stress and anxiety levels. I’m better at managing my time. I’m better at getting things done. Somehow taking time to meditate actually seems to give me more time during the day, not less. On top of all of that, I’m way more creative. If I can’t think of anything to write taking a few minutes to do a quick meditation really helps.

Here are some You Tube videos I used to help me learn to meditate. Starting out doing these guided meditations helped me figure out what to do. Now I meditate without them.

Try it. Take just a few minutes starting today to be calm, and quiet, and still. It will change your life if you stick with it, I promise.