3 Ways to Alter your Mental Landscape Using a Daily Meditation Practice
A relaxed focused and connected demeanor is a type of consistent presence that we all hold inside of ourselves.
Why is meditation important?
We have access to this state of being at any moment. It all begins in your mind, which creates tens of thousands of thoughts a day. If you are not careful and continuously question the validity of your reasonings as they appear, these thoughts may begin to produce undesired emotions that may trigger fear, worry, doubt, and anxiety. Our thinking mind wants to use the same logical tools it has always used to make sense of the world, as it searches for evidence to support thoughts.
However, all of those conclusions from our minds are not the truth of the matter 100% of the time.
Sentiments on an issue can be found by listening to your heart. Meditation reveals the state of our heart, which speaks in a calm, assured manner rather than the hurried sentiments between our ears.
Updated December 28th, 2021
Benefits of Meditation
Meditation Redirects Thoughts
The practice of focusing the mind on a mantra, a guided meditation, or your breath, disciplines the brain to redirect your thoughts back to your intended focus. Once you set an intentional focus, you instantly are placed into the role of observer of your internal mind. Imagine that when you are meditating, you are "people watching" from a high rise in New York City. Thoughts pass by like pedestrians, and you observe, suspending the judgment around the views because you gently direct yourself back to your desired intention. This type of training will empower you to choose to refocus amid intense situations in your daily life. At the moment where you suspend your judgment on a thought, you are releasing the need to have an opinion about everyone and everything in your life. You may find that you transform into a more accepting and less critical person, with a healthy ego intact.
Meditation Trains Us to Meet Moments As They Arise
Many of us believe that staying one step ahead in life guarantees a comfortable victory. It is fine to create an action plan and follow that to achieve long-term goals, but do we necessarily need to engage our brains in this same behavior? Through the process of meditation, we learn to quiet the urge to keep our mental gears turning. Within that moment of pause, we can begin to allow thoughts to arise as they come. Additionally, this state provides a more focused mental energy to be applied in the direction you choose once you are out of your meditative state. You may begin to realize that you can meet situations as they are in the present, without making "down payments" on an outcome that has yet to arise.
Meditation Provides Us with a Daily Vision Board
Inside your meditation practice, your imagination is free to ponder on things that exist outside of the external world. What happens inside the vacuum of focused intention is pure manifestation gold! Use that clear focus to create pictures of yourself doing anything you want and being anybody you want. It does not matter if it is a reality or not; what is essential at that moment is listening to the body's reactions to those images. Your body may feel more relaxed, a smile may creep onto your face, the end of your fingers may feel a slight tingle, and your heartbeat may increase with adrenaline. Conversely, your gut may tighten, and you may feel a “stomach-drop” feeling in response to these mental visions. Please take note of what physical sensations you feel and remember what felt comfortable and what did not in the future so you will be able to recognize these sensations outside of your mediative state and use them as a guide. These sensations are your intuition, and your inner self is communicating messages to you there at that moment.
How meditation changed my life
All of these benefits have allowed me to know myself on a deeper level.
I invite you to take an opportunity to relax with yourself for several minutes, where nothing else has your attention. By recognizing that you can detach from your thoughts inside of your meditation practice, you are then able to differentiate between what resonates on a soul level and what is better left discarded within your daily life.