Meditation has massively grown in popularity over recent years. From businesses now allowing employees time to meditate at work from individuals learning in their own time at home, the majority of people nowadays have heard of phrases such as mindfulness, headspace and peace of mind.
Unfortunately, for many people, the practice of meditation still feels like a distant concept. How can the practice of regularly sitting and breathing in a special way change your life? If you’re one of these individuals, there’s no need to worry. It’s incredibly easy to start practicing and feel the scientifically proven benefits including a calmer mind, a more positive outlook to life and a more productive and happier attitude.
In the following posts, we’ll explore how to get started in the practice of meditation and how it can positively change your day to day life.
A Kinder Attitude
It goes without saying that everybody deserves affection and kindness in their lives. This also includes you. Everybody feels negative at some point in their lives. Maybe you’ve witness or experienced an upsetting event? Maybe you made a mistake and now feel regret or maybe you’re prone to putting yourself down?
These aren’t uncommon feelings and as the saying goes;“You can’t love somebody else until you love yourself”. Practicing meditation can help you alleviate these thoughts and feelings by allowing you to take a moment to stop and pause the thoughts you have about everyday life. Think of meditation as a way of taking a break from everyday life, allowing you to sit by yourself and just take a breather from the chaos and madness that surrounds us all.
Rid Yourself of Fear & Anger
It’s not easy to accept or express feelings of fear and anger. It’s extremely common for these feelings to become repressed within own beings but, in truth, this only causes depression, shame and anxiety. Through meditation, you are allowing yourself the time to face these issues and feelings, addressing them head on which in turn can allow you deal with the situation, empowering you to avoid those negative feelings which always result in a negative attitude towards life.
As above, meditation allows you to take a breath and a break from the constant nagging from our minds and open ourselves up to feelings of self-acceptance and self-awareness.
Revive Feelings of Appreciation
Everyday life is so full of hustle and bustle, we really get time to think for ourselves. Before I started to practice meditation, I constantly released that my mind was rarely clear and that they wasn’t a moment where my thoughts would stop and I could just appreciate the world around me.
Meditation is the key to unlocking these feelings of appreciation. Once unlocked, you begin to appreciate everything around you. From the chair you’re sitting on, the room you’re sitting in, the trees around you, the sounds of birds outside, the plants, the grass, the heat from the sun, the sound of rain, by noticing these little details in life and appreciating them, you become so much more grateful for the life you’re living and the place you live. These feelings of appreciation all come together to reward you with a much more positive outlook on life, allow you to smile each and every minute of every single day.
Becoming Aware
Finally, I’ll touch on the aspect of meditation which is quite possibly the most well-known, awareness. Specifically, self-awareness. Every aspect of our lives as a purpose; you go to work to get paid, you pay your bills to have water and electricity, you go to the shops to buy something, there is always an action and a consequence to everything that we do.
However, meditation has no physical purpose or alternative motive. The idea of meditation is to be present. To be aware. By being present and aware, you are simply locked in to your surroundings, allowing time for these feelings of appreciation and awareness to exist. With practice over time, these feelings will then spread to every aspect of your life, allowing for a complete, satisfying and healthy positive lifestyle.
The next article in this series will describe how you can get started with meditation and the best methods of practice to fit your personal situation and lifestyle!
Have you began practicing meditation or looking for more inspiration to get your started? Comment below to spark the conversation that could change your life!
