I meditated every day for 21 days — here’s what happened

Let’s just say, I didn’t expect all of it.

Photo by Matteo Di Iorio on Unsplash

If you have looked up guided meditation videos on YouTube, you will probably have seen videos, where they have recommended you to listen to this meditation every day for at least 21 days. The reason behind that is psychology suggests that it takes at least 21 days to build a habit, although the more likely scenario suggests a minimum of 59 days.

Essentially, guided meditations are used for several purposes. They may be to relieve stress, to connect with your higher self, but most of the time, they are targeted at mental reprogramming. That is, to break unhealthy mental patterns, inner blockages and false beliefs that may be impacting your life in a negative way.

I have been meditating on and off for several years now, but I have never truly meditated over several days without break, especially always listening to the same guided meditation. Before I continue, I must say that I am a firm believer of the positive impact that meditation can bring and have seen very positive changes from it. I do believe in “attracting positivity” into your life is possible, without having a full understanding of how it exactly works. I think it is also not fully relevant, to be honest. Of course, a more sound explanation for this may be that you are more open to opportunity and with the right mindset, you tend to see the hidden positives in a negative situation. Whether you believe that the Universe is ruled by The Law of Attraction or you appeal to a more rational explanation, one thing is certain and that is that your mindset greatly shapes the way you see and interact with the world.

So back to the experiment. Here are the facts of my 21-day journey:

• Type of guided meditation: I chose a meditation which focuses on visualizing the kind of life that you want and the goals you want to achieve. In short, a visualization of your dream life.
• Duration: 40 minutes for 21 days
• When: before sleeping

Here are the results:

A general sense of positivity

As the days progressed, I have to say that I did feel more at peace. I had this general sense of well-being that “everything is okay”. I felt more confident, more relaxed, and didn’t feel like quitting my day time job at the slightest inconvenience. I did feel more grounded, because I had this inner reassurance that “everything is OK”.

More creativity for my artistic endeavors

I am currently writing a novel. In one of my meditations, I focused mainly on the outcome of this novel. I visualized having tons of great ideas for my novel. I visualized being “in flow” where the creative ideas for the novel just keep coming. And I kid you not, but some of the greatest ideas for my story came from this 21-day period. I felt inspired to really sit down for several hours, put my phone away and concentrate on my story — and the ideas just kept coming.

Again, this article is not to explain how this potentially happens, I am simply sharing my experience of what happened. I cannot guarantee that it will be the same for you.

More positive surprises

I cannot explain how this happened, but so many exciting things did happen. I was yearning for more meaningful human connections, and the week after, I was having lunch with one of the most respected activists in the country. I had meaningful conversations online. I made new friends. I am serious — I am not making this up. Pleasant coincidences happened — and yes, maybe they happen all the time, but I wasn’t in the right mindset to even notice them, or seize opportunities when they presented themselves.

… And then I suddenly got super depressed

This was the one I didn’t expect at all. In the second week, I started getting super depressed. I suddenly felt this immense pressure, I was feeling very anxious and uneasy. I actually ended up researching this, and I have read of people who have had similar experiences. Apparently, this happens when one of two things take place: it’s either that your subconsciousness is trying to work out what to think of the old belief system vs. the new belief system that you are trying to install, or your subconsciousness is becoming aware of the great disconnect between the life you currently have and the life you wish to have. This then simmers through to your consciousness, and you become unhappy and nervous of how far away you are from what you want to achieve.

Conclusion of the experiment

After having completed the 21-day meditation challenge, I have learned the following or got confirmation of what I already believed to be true:

• Our subconscious is extremely powerful, and it is important to feed it with thoughts, ideas and affirmations that contribute to a positive well-being
• Avoid toxic positivity at all costs — if you are feeling down, don’t push these feelings away because they are bound to come back at one point. I think this is what happened in my second week, when I suddenly felt extremely depressed. The technique I learned for negative thoughts was to enter a meditative state and observe these thoughts from a third person perspective. Observe them, watch them, analyze them. Cry if you must. And close the meditation by letting them go.
• There is no one single meditation that will fix your life FOREVER. Meditation is a life-long process. You cannot meditate for 21 days and expect to be a new person; however, it is definitely a great start. Working on and getting to know yourself is a lifelong project and the most important project you will ever undertake.
• It takes longer than 21 days to make a habit. Three weeks is just too short, especially if you’ve done things differently your entire life. This applies to all habits, and not just meditation.
• There are things we cannot explain. I know some of you reading this may only believe in the things that can be observed by the senses and that is absolutely okay, so I will leave it at that. There are many explanations to rationalize things that we don’t fully understand. I think this is also something deeply personal, and everyone needs to decide for themselves what to make of it.

In closing

It’s actually been a while since I have done this 21-day meditation challenge, but only got a chance to write about it now. Overall, I think the benefits of meditation are extremely powerful, but perhaps often misunderstood. I think what many people don’t realize is that even if you are not spiritual or believe in a higher being, meditation can be beneficial for you too. Essentially it is a form of relaxation, of calming the mind. Of going into hibernation mode and just being still. On the other hand, the benefits of meditation are also overly glorified, which leaves the person with a sense of disappointment when the magic didn’t happen. Over the 5 years where I have been meditating, my experience shows that the times I meditated more regularly, where the times were I generally felt more secure and at peace. I had more faith in myself and “in the process”. Again, the purpose of this article is not to explain how this really works, but to simply share my experience.

In closing, I can definitely recommend everyone, regardless of belief, to give it a try. In the end, meditation is all about improving your mindset — and that is always a good thing.