500 days of mindfulness
A journey to the inner self
Today I celebrated 500 days of meditation. I just wanted to share my experience and how it had helped me in uncountable ways. When I started my mindfulness journey in 2021, I never imagined I would be sharing my experience today. It has been such a blessing to take a small step that has made such a significant impact.🧘♀️
Meditation is being in tune with our inner universe.
In 2021, I was going through a lot of mental turmoil and my health was failing me. That’s when I decided to start meditation. Although I had lots of ups and downs in between, it was one thing I decided to stick to, no matter what!
Meditation is something that has helped me show my inner self and what needs to be healed. It has helped me become more connected to myself. There is a saying, ‘we can’t control the waves but we can learn to surf’. Meditation is a tool that helps us stay calm and centered no matter what the situation is. It made me realize that happiness is already within us, all we need to do is to remove the clouds of sadness and anxiety to come back to our true happy selves.
Like the ocean that remains calm in its depths even when waves rage over its surface, and like the sun that continues shining on high even during storms, we can at each moment create value and develop our state of life, enjoying our existence to the fullest in times of both suffering and joy. —Daisaku Ikeda
During the initial months when I started meditating, I could really notice the difference. I was so calm and mindful the whole day. The 15 minutes of mindfulness could make a huge difference. It felt so blessed to be able to turn down the volume of my mind’s chatter, such a magical experience when you open your eyes and the world looks much brighter and calmer.
Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment. There is so much beauty in everything and meditation teaches us to look at it through the right lens and helps us see the world in new and bright light. It’s a practice of gently noticing our thought patterns and letting them go, without attaching any meaning to them. It’s not just about sitting in a place with closed eyes but being aware of even the minute details.
Here are a few things the meditation practice has taught me:
- You are grateful: Mindfulness has helped me pay attention to even the minute things in life which we don't generally see as we are either dwelled in the past or worried about the future. When we realize that we are not our thoughts and it’s just our mind playing tricks on us. When we start to pay heed to the beautiful things around us, we realize that life is really beautiful and we start appreciating it, just the way it is.
- Improved sleep: Researchers have found that people who practice meditation transition to deep sleep faster than those who do not practice it. When you sleep well, the body gets time to rejuvenate and you wake up happy and content.
- Boost mental well-being: Meditation can lower stress, improve emotional regulation and enhance compassion and creativity. It helps you to perform better in all aspects of life and helps you become a better version.
- Help you heal: Meditation can help in many forms of healing- emotional, spiritual, and even physical. Studies show that meditation helps manage chronic pain effectively. It helps in healing from any trauma by offering us a new perspective on past and current events.
- Self-awareness: Meditation helps in developing better awareness and understanding of ourselves. It helps us understand our feelings, thought patterns, triggers, strengths, and weaknesses. This, in turn, can help us grow to become the best version.
- Rather than reacting, you stay calm: When you practice mindfulness, you would notice that you are calmer and you don't react to the situation, instead you pause to reflect before responding. Things don't trigger you now as they used to do previously, you chose to respond to the situation and you don’t let anything control you. When we don’t try to fight tendencies or desires and instead choose to witness them dispassionately, the desires cease to have any control over us.
and the list goes on…….
To a mind that is still. The whole universe surrenders.-Lao Tzu
Meditation practice has been a mental mainstay, a guiding light, and at times, a very comfortable and warm blanket that I would wrap myself in on the days when it seemed that everything around me was falling apart at a rapid pace. It has helped me keep my serenity when the waves of life slam against my mental, physical and emotional shores.
Life is never going to be smooth sailing and these challenges are inevitable. We can’t control the waves, but we can learn to surf. Meditation helps in building the mental and emotional strength to better meet those challenges. I hope you will discover the power of stillness soon and hit your 500-day mark and beyond.
Life is like the ocean, there will be waves. Sometimes just little ones, sometimes big and exciting ones, sometimes really big, terrifying ones. To sustain the balance we need to learn to surf rather than complain about the tides. If we master this, we can enjoy the journey, called Life.
Thanks for being here! If you like it, please check my other stories here.
Cheers! ✨
