WHAT I LEARNED FROM A FORTNIGHT OF MEDITATION
Hey Re-inventors!
For those of you who have seen my “Learning Meditation” series on medium, know that I have been practicing meditation since past 15 days now.
My main motive was to give a little insight to all of you, about what really happens when you start meditating. I have documented my feelings every day, before and after meditating.
It would not be justified on my part to not praise this practice for I have seen enormous benefits — from reduced restlessness, to reduced anger, to patience and what not!!
I can go on and on for a long time like this but the point of this post is to tell you guys my main takeaways from a fortnight of meditation.
They ask: Why do it?
The simple reason I started meditation was because I think I am often stressed, worried and short-tempered and these habits are not adding any value to the quality of my life.
And thus I started meditating for the numerous benefits it has!
“By training meditation, we create an inner space and clarity that enables us to control our mind”- Unknown
Major benefits that meditation has provided me
Reduced anger
Reduced procrastination
Reduced stress
Reduced tiredness
Helped to gain some clarity
Increased focus
Increased productivity
Happiness
Rejuvenation
Increased Creativity
Increased energy
Increased motivation
WHY SHOULD YOU DO IT
The MIND is the greatest gift given to us. It is our most important possession YET we take no care of it.
This directly leads to stress and I realized that maybe it is the result of all the unhappiness
Andy Puddicombe says, in his TED Talk, “Meditation is all about familiarizing yourself with the present moment”
It teaches us to be MINDFUL and stop losing the little moments in life.
SO, now one thing was clear, that meditation is a skill that should be learned
A MYTH BROKEN
When I first thought about meditation, I thought that it is some magical exercise that will help me stop my negative thoughts and only help me think about positive things.
I imagined myself, living peacefully, like a monk, always in a state of happiness.
BUT this turned out to be false.
As is started meditating, I realized that often times I would get angry or even sad or just simply have negative thoughts in my mind during the first days.
Then I realized that the problem is NOT that you have negative thoughts, the problem is that you let yourself get affected by it.
Amidst all the traffic (emotions of anger, fear, joy, disgust, hatred, irritation, surprise etc.) I felt being carried away behind certain emotions or even trying to stop some of them.
I felt UNSETTLED.
But then soon I realized that mediation is NOT about stopping thoughts or eliminating feelings. It is about finding the calm amidst all the emotions that you have, neither run behind any nor trying to stop any.
AND now when you are calm, you become less reactive to things around you and become more proactive.
So you WATCH the mind rather than controlling it or being judgmental which then make you more aware about your emotions.
This lesson is a big one for me.
I hope through my series updates and this article I have been able to tell my story of learning meditation in a way that has provided you value.
I would highly recommend meditation to all of you and if you have trouble doing it, I would say go try apps like Headspace or Calm.
CHEERS!
