Meditation can be considered to be the most accessible personal development tool on the planet. I say this because anyone can learn to meditate. It doesn’t matter where you are, how old you are, what skills you currently have or don’t have, how wealthy you are, or where you live.
If you want to learn to meditate, you can… and it’s a lot easier than you probably think! Check out my post, Learn To Meditate: The 2 Biggest Secrets That Make It Easy! to learn how easy it can be to begin a successful practice today.
Why Would You Want To Start A Meditation Practice In The First Place?
Maybe you have heard others talking about some of the benefits they have received from meditating. Or maybe you are at a point in your life when things are not working out the way you expected them to… and this realization is causing you to want to turn inwards for some inner reflection.
Whatever the reason you find yourself here, I’m sure you will get some answers to questions you may have. And as always, I urge you to follow your heart and listen to your instincts because this is the best way to get the answers most appropriate for you…. and you will know when you find something that is right for you because the information will ‘resonate’ well with your whole being.
For me, when something resonates with me, either of several things will happen….
– I will get intense tingling sensations in waves moving through my body. It’s like my whole body has ‘goosebumps’ all over and my scalp ‘tightens’ and I feel really alive, awake, and aware.
– I will feel love flood through me in such a way that it brings tears to my eyes. The overwhelming sensations, both emotional and physical, inform me that what I am sensing is ‘truth’ right now at this moment… and again, it makes me feel really alive, more so than during the many other ‘ordinary moments’ of daily life.
As an aside, Dan Millman wrote a book titled: “No Ordinary Moments.” It’s really worth reading. I’ll explain why I slipped this in in the first benefit of meditation. So read on if you want to find some stuff that may resonate with you….
The 15 Main Benefits Of Meditating Are:
There are many, many, reported benefits to be gained from meditating regularly. And while many are subjective, the fact that they have been reported by countless people throughout the ages attests to their validity. And of course, many of the physical, mental, and emotional benefits have been verified by modern science as well. So let’s get into it!
1) Meditation Increases Self-Awareness
Better awareness of your thoughts and how they manifest as your feelings are instrumental to learning how to better control your emotions. With greater awareness of the thoughts that are continually streaming through your mind, you will come to know what thoughts are making you angry, happy, fearful, loving, etc.
“When the mind is creating troubles, it’s time to come back to the body and the serenity of the present moment.” ― Dan Millman,
I’ve learned that we can transform any of the moments we are experiencing in our daily lives into something deeper and therefore more meaningful that can make all of the moments better. And we do this by choosing to think differently about what we are doing.
Even if we are washing the dishes, we can notice the sensation of the warm water touching our skin, watch the soap bubbles transform into rainbows, and experience the different textures of the stone bowl and the stainless steel cutlery. I know it doesn’t sound exciting, but it is better than having our minds in autopilot mode and just regurgitating all the fears, worries, doubts, and insecurities that we have. (Phychologists tell us that up to 80% of our thoughts are negative, and 95% are repetitive!)
A simple change in focus, by being more aware of what we are doing (being mindful of the present moment) can transform the simplest of tasks into something worth being present for…. and it is you who benefits from this attention to the present moment instead of dwelling in the past or worrying about the future.
Because instead of being bored by doing something you may not want to be doing, (that you have to do anyway) you become more interested in the process of living and throw yourself wholeheartedly into more of the moments of your life. And this is what Dan’s book, No Ordinary Moments is all about.
2) Meditating Improves Your Ability To Focus And Concentrate
This is vitally important for anyone wanting to achieve their goals because, according to The Law of Attraction, what we are giving our attention to is what manifests in our lives.
One of the best examples of success brought about by the ability to consciously direct thought energy is Andrew Carnegie, one of the most famous and wealthy industrialists of his day. During the 1800’s Andrew Carnegie managed to amass a vast fortune very rapidly. When investigated and questioned by the United States Senate as to how this was possible, he simply replied, “I can keep my mind focused on something for five minutes at a stretch.”
Compare this to your current ability to focus: How often do you ‘need’ to check out social media, and just end up scrolling through tens to hundreds of posts without really giving your full attention to anything for more than a few seconds? Can you hold your attention on something for more than a minute straight? Why not give it a go… you may be surprised by what you learn about yourself!
The benefits of improving your ability to remain focused include increasing productivity, the ability to stay on task and make better decisions, an improvement in self-confidence and self-control, and also you will come to understand how to manage your time better.
3) Regular Meditation Helps To Reduce Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
The practice of just sitting and being in the moment means that you are not focusing on stuff that is worrying you. Therefore, your levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, go down, and this helps promote ‘relaxation’ within you, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
At the same time, the levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin increase which makes you feel happier and improves your moods in general.
These effects become ‘learned’ by your intelligent body, and with regular practice, they become easier to attain and the effects will also last longer, eventually becoming part of your improved overall well-being even when you have finished your meditation sessions.
4) Meditation Raises Your Vibration
By releasing stress, judgment, and negativity, the positive attributes of your personality will be able to shine through more often. And since your vibration is directly related to how you are feeling, when you are feeling better, it will naturally and easily begin to rise.
One of the major benefits of meditation that is most often left out of blogs is that ‘what you learn during meditation is just preparation for how you can live the other waking hours of your life.’ This means that if you are meditating to release stress, cultivate a more positive mindset, build mental resilience, etc. you should not forget about these things once your meditation session is over.
Your life is changed for the better by the things that you can take from your practice and apply throughout your day. And the more often you apply your new improved positive mindset, relaxed attitude, nonjudgment, and ability to pause and think before acting, the higher your vibration will become and the quicker your life will improve….
5) Meditation Makes You A Better Person
It makes sense that when you meditate and benefit in proven ways including being able to sleep better, lowering your blood pressure, improving immune function, reducing inflammation and chronic pain, improving memory, and increasing resilience, you will be healthier and happier than if you are stressed, tired, and fearful.
Long-term meditators constantly report that the quality of their lives is significantly improved through practicing meditation. Whether it be because of improved mental resilience and abilities or because of an improvement in physical well-being doesn’t matter. It’s the end result that is important…. Meditation has been linked to increased feelings of overall well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction over and over again in many different studies.
6) Meditation Develops Empathy And Compassion
These are great qualities to cultivate because we do not, and cannot, exist in this world alone.
Empathy helps us understand what other people are going through. And when we understand others, we are less likely to judge them. And of course, it is for our benefit that we don’t pass judgment on others, because through The Law of Attraction, what we put out is what we get back… if we are judgmental, it will always come back to bite us in the ass….
Being able to feel compassion means that our heart energy is becoming more open. And this is very important for our ability to manifest better lives. Why?… because our hearts have a magnetic field over 100 times stronger than our brains.
And guess what? It is the vibration of this stronger heart magnetic field that attracts the people, events, and circumstances, into our lives. This means if you are empathic, compassionate, and loving, then you will attract awesome stuff into your life that mirrors this. And doesn’t it feel great when we connect with others that we want to be resonating with?
7) Meditation Gives You More Control Over Your Life
So many of the benefits of meditating overlap and combine to give more benefits. And while you may not think the ability to focus or to pause and think before acting are significant by themselves, they and other benefits add up to you being able to control the direction that your life is heading.
Pausing before acting will give you time to work out what is in your best interests as well as if the actions you are contemplating are going to benefit everyone else involved or not. And this ability to think and reason for yourself, instead of being someone with a herd mentality, is what really separates long-term meditators from others.
Meditators are people who are taking the time to improve themselves in significant ways. And while their desire initially may seem selfish because they are doing it for their own betterment, the end result is that the whole world is made a better place because of the better people in it.
