Why It Takes Guts to Meditate
Breathe in, breathe out, and get ready to face your authentic self.
If someone told me to meditate five years ago, I would have laughed and said, ‘I’ll fall asleep’.
But being an anxious person, I discovered the gift of meditation in September 2020 in the book, ‘Think Like a Monk’ by Jay Shetty. Since then, I have been practising meditation daily.
At first, I could last only for five minutes. Five minutes would feel like a mammoth task. My mind would race a thousand thoughts per second, and I would feel restless. Somehow it would have the opposite effect on me.
But I decided to keep at it. I took it as a challenge and wanted to discipline my mind and body.
It took six months, but I am today, meditating for thirty minutes straight, feeling calm and composed even during a pandemic. So, the effort was worth it.
The Journey
The journey of meditating for six months has been like a rollercoaster. Up and down with emotions hitting you hard. There were times when I wanted to give up. Not because I could not sit in one position for long but because you need to face your true self. That is not an easy feat.
When you close your eyes and pay attention to what your mind is trying to communicate to you, situations, emotions, and feelings crop up that we all bury. We don’t want to face them because we suppress them for a reason. We don’t realise that if we don’t forgive ourselves for our mistakes, forgive people who made us feel miserable; the pain will keep haunting us in some form or another.
The pain will show up in the form of stress or body aches, and we would blame it on our fast-paced lives. But it will surprise you to know that once I consciously decided to come to terms with my past and forgive myself for my mistakes and how others made me feel, I became stronger, happier and my anxiety levels decreased.
You Cry
It’s not easy. Sometimes the emotions are so overwhelming that you cry. According to an article published by BetterMe.
Crying during meditation is normal and no one should feel any shame for doing it. It shows that you are getting in touch with your emotions and starting to become more self-aware. Whether you are crying tears of joy, gratitude, sadness, or anger let the tears flow and cry to your heart’s content.
Once you are done, if your tears were from negative emotions, take some time to analyse your feelings, where they came from, and what you can do to change the situation that is making you feel this way. This helps you be rid of any suppressed feelings that may be bringing you down.
Ignoring the Pain
Life often throws you curveballs. They are gut-wrenching and take days to heal. It could be going through a breakup, losing someone very dear to us, a fall out in some of our most profound bonds, feeling resentment towards our family members, stressful parent-child relations and so on.
We tread past these significant moments of our lives by becoming machines and just keeping ourselves busy. We refuse to confront our emotions as they are too painful and keep going on with our lives.
But if you choose to meditate, be prepared to face all these emotions and situations you have avoided. It won’t make an appearance in the very beginning, but when you start going deeper into the practice, your mind will reveal those moments you thought never existed.
Don’t Panic — Vent It Out
Please don’t run from it this time. Don’t panic if your mind shows you something terrifying, and you cannot face yourself in the mirror. Instead, vent it out, cry or write about it. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and affirm yourself by saying out loud or in your mind, ‘I forgive myself. I am willing to let go. I forgive the person who made me feel this way. I am freeing myself from this situation and rising from it as a stronger person’.
Guided meditations help us deal through some of our most haunting memories. Unguided meditations, where you listen to calm music or embrace silence, your mind shows you things that you need to deal with if you want to live a healthier life, not physically but mentally.
The Healing
I looked at meditation as a form of self-care. Little did I know that it would take me through a journey filled with countless reality checks. But it also showed me how to be more grateful and appreciate all the gifts that life has blessed me with. It also taught me the positivity we can achieve by manifesting the things we desire and looking back to our happy memories.
Whatever we want to feel, it all depends on us. The question is, are we ready to first deal with the things of our past and then emerging stronger? Are we prepared to manifest the things we desire and then work towards them? Are we ready to do the work, meditate every day and not find excuses to neglect our ‘ME’ time that we all deserve? Even if it’s just for ten minutes?
If yes, start today. Read about it or listen to it on the YouTube channel ‘Great Meditation’, download a Meditation App or sit, close your eyes and focus on your breathing, do whatever feels best.
If you do decide to meditate, get ready to emerge stronger and see yourself grow. But remember, it takes guts and if you’re prepared to meet your true self — smile, cry and then hug yourself.
As YOU did the work, and that is no easy feat.
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