Four Reasons to Start Meditating Today
Buddhist monks, hippies, people who love yoga – is that who you think of when you hear the word meditation?
While they probably do love meditation, it’s actually more mainstream than you might think. You've probably heard of Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah Winfrey, Joe Rogan, or Arianna Huffington. They all meditate.
I’ve been half-halfheartedly meditating for years, but about three months ago, I started taking it more seriously. I’ve meditated for at least ten minutes on 73 of the last 75 days. The consistency has made a noticeable positive impact.
For something that takes as little as ten minutes a day, what do you have to lose?
Based on my experience, I think you'll see the following four benefits:
Decrease in racing mind
My mind is usually spinning at least 100 miles an hour.
Really? That fast?
I’m thinking about my next workout, the next article I’m writing, something I saw on Twitter, a new business idea, or what I’m going to have for lunch.
I rarely have white noise between my ears.
I think this is a good quality. It helps me come up with a lot of new ideas, and it prevents boredom – I’m always learning about something different.
But a racing mind can be counter productive when I’m trying to focus on one task – something like driving without running a red light…
Since I’ve been meditating every day, I’ve been able to train my mind just like you would train a muscle in the gym.
Part of the practice involves focusing your mind on something specific, like your breathing. As you observe your breathing,your mind will wander. When your mind wanders, you simply acknowledge the thought and refocus on your breathing.
The act of repeating this practice – focus, acknowledgement of thoughts, and re-focusing – helps you improve at recognizing your wandering mind in other situations.
Sometimes I love being lost in thought. Sometimes it’s good for creativity. But it’s important to have control over when it happens.
The daily practice of meditation allows me the mental control to decide when I will be lost in thought which prevents me from being in a constant state of day dream.
Controlling the monkey mind also leads to the next benefit.
Better sleep
Regular exercise does wonders for my sleep.Most nights I hop in bed and I’m out cold within minutes. Since I’ve been meditating every morning, I’ve experienced even fewer nights when I struggle to fall asleep.
This tells me the benefits of a morning meditation extend throughout the day.
On the rare nights when it takes me longer to fall asleep, a ten-minute meditation usually does the trick.
The benefits I’ve observed aren’t unique to me. A 2015 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that a mindfulness awareness practice (which is meditation) resulted in improvements in sleep quality.
The benefits realized from 10 minutes of meditation far outweigh the 10 minutes you lose. As I discussed in my interview with Man Overseas, a ten-minute session before bed usually helps me fall asleep faster than just getting in bed and closing my eyes. If I feel like I might have trouble sleeping, my bedtime routine can go one of two ways:
Get in bed, close my eyes, toss and turn for 30 to 50 minutes, then finally fall asleep. OR
Get in bed, meditate for ten minutes, fall asleep within the next five minutes.
It’s easy to see which option is better.
Enjoying the moment
Most meditation is a practice of mindfulness.
According to the Greater Good Magazine published by UC Berkeley, mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.
It’s hard to maintain this awareness if you’re thinking about what you need to do at work tomorrow, the argument you had with your wife yesterday, or what you want to have for dinner tonight.
One of the things you focus on in a meditation practice is noticing your thoughts and gently refocusing your attention on the subject of observation, like your breathing.
In practicing this every day, the skill begins to translate to everything you do.
How many times have you:
Driven to work but can’t remember the drive when you get there?
Been introduced to someone and forgot his or her name within five minutes?
Had a conversation with a friend but couldn’t remember anything you discussed by that evening?
Been watching a football game but find yourself blanking when your friend asks what happened on the last play?
Practicing meditation for ten minutes everyday will reduce the frequency of these brain farts.
The less often your mind is lost in thought, the more you can enjoy what is going on around you.
The quicker you notice your attention has drifted and reset your focus, the less quality time you lose with your family and friends.
Self awareness
When you practice observing your thoughts, you become better at separating yourself from them and analyzing them objectively.
I’m aware this sounds pretentious, so let’s look at an example.
Imagine you’re a man having a conversation with a female co-worker. You’re discussing your favorite books, and she mentions that she loved the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg.
This is your brain: You immediately think to yourself, “I’ll never read that book. I think the gender pay gap is bullshit, and I don’t like feminism.” You nod your head, smile, quickly finish your coffee, and leave the break room.
This is your brain on meditation: You have the same thought, but then you pause to ask yourself why. You realize that your boss is a woman and your sister is an executive at a company, so those relationships shaped your opinions on the gender pay gap. You think further and remember that your female co-worker is a close friend and you value her opinion, so maybe you should at least give Lean In a chance.
Seeing your thoughts clearly helps you to dissect them. Dissecting your thoughts helps you to determine if they’re valid.
Determining the validity of your thoughts makes you more self-aware.
Self-awareness makes you more open minded,accepting, and pleasant to be around.
If everyone’s primary goal was making their presence more enjoyable to others, we might all enjoy life a little more.
If you have an extra ten minutes today, why not spend it meditating? I think you’ll enjoy the results.
